KP  The Light at the End
by Commander Argus
Summary: Kim and Ron face new challenges and life changes as they begin their senior year in college. The continuation of the It Finally Happened story line.
1. Chapter 1

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 1**

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It was very dark.

Kim thought grimly of her sophomore year creative writing class, and how the professor said he would personally slap anyone who actually started their assignments with "It was a dark and stormy night." Of course, there had to be one person in the class who had to play the smart-alec and raise the point that if that's how they wanted to begin a piece and that sort of setting was important to the plot, then why not? The aging professor fixed that particular student with an icy glare, trying to decide if they serious, or were just trying to call him out. Finally he decided, one way or the other, to treat it as the latter.

"There are better ways of doing it. Set up your scene and describe it. If it is indeed dark, and stormy as well, then lead us into that description, don't just blurt it out. There is a reason it has become such a hoary cliché. It is lazy simply to write like that."

Kim wondered why she was remembering that particular incident almost two years earlier. Yes, it was dark, the kind of darkness where it was difficult to even see your hand in front of your face. It was the kind of dark that made you feel like you were swimming in a pool of India ink. The close, warm, wet air made it even worse, causing every pore on her body to ooze sweat and oil.

The main reason she was confused by the memory was the fact that, while it was quite dark, it was not especially stormy. Oh, it had been raining. There was a reason it was called a rainforest, though she really couldn't tell when it was honestly raining, or when the water falling on her constantly was simply coming from the canopy above her. She would have actually welcomed a real storm. Then the rain would wash some of the rotting stench from the air, cooling her. She would like nothing better than to stand out in the rain and let it wash some of the filth from her body. It was the closest thing to a real shower she would be getting any time soon.

That did not seem to be forthcoming. It had been several days since she had an unhindered view of the sky. The forest itself was like a whole other world than the one she was used to. It made the thick, familiar forest around Lake Middleton seem like an open grassland. The trees were huge, with trunks ten to twenty feet across at their bases, their branches and limbs intertwining so much they formed a sort of ceiling above her. Here the sky was green, with dim light filtering through even at high-noon. The ground was teeming with life as well, with all sorts of creeping and crawling things that consumed what routinely fell from that canopy, be it leaf or creature.

Kim clutched her grappling gun to her chest as if it were her only lifeline. Even through her well-used leather gloves the plastic grip felt so familiar in her hands. It was comforting, much like holding onto her beloved Pandaroo at night. Here on a mission it would simply have to take the faded plush toy's place. It was something that was a part of her, something she knew she could depend on. Something she could touch and know what it was and what it represented. In the darkness of the South American night, it was a touchstone with her inner self.

That was about how much good it was to her at that point. It was out of charges, something that had only happened to her a couple times in the past. Still, it did have some uses. She could still deploy the hook and play the line out manually, and the retracting mechanism still worked when it was wound up correctly. That had to count for something.

She was doing her best not to be afraid. It wasn't that she shouldn't be. The proper amount of fear, given the situation, was merely being realistic. Anyone who wasn't afraid, especially with a death squad after them, was going to get dead real quick. The trick was not letting that fear overwhelm you. That was much harder to do than it seemed, even for somebody as experienced as her. It really wasn't such a new sitch to her. Come to South America, help us with a ruthless dictator. It was the kind of thing she had been doing since late in her fourteenth year, culminating in the mission when she first met Dr. Drakken. As always, she would help any way she could, be it simply getting some aid to the folks under the thrall of the bad-guys, or taking the villains on directly, any way she could.

That all looked good on paper, until you considered the fact Kim Possible never carried weapons. That always put her at a distinct disadvantage when she went into this sort of sitch. It was one thing to drop in on a squad of goons working for Professor Dementor, or any of her usual foes for that matter. They would often only use something like the energy staffs Drakken's henchmen employed, or simply rely on their fists. That was the whole point to having three-hundred pound walls of muscle as a goon.

These guys, unfortunately, were playing for keeps. It wasn't quite like the movies, where all the bad-guys carried Russian-style assault rifles. These guys weren't that lucky. Instead they had a hodge-podge collection of battered hunting rifles, shot guns and even something that looked like a musket. Unfortunately, any one of those weapons could kill you just as dead, it just took longer to get individual shots off.

Kim closed her eyes, trying to get her heart to slow down. She had to be calm and had to make the most of the nearly lightless night. The chase obviously had been called off because of the darkness. If she had been going up against a modern unit, they would have had some sort of night-vision, but this bunch didn't even seem to be interesting in lighting any kind of fire, though it was just as likely they didn't have anything they could keep lit in the ultra-damp greenery.

She cursed herself roundly for once-again heading out on a mission without being fully prepared. That lesson should have been learned quite some time ago. Leave something behind and you're sure to need it. Well, she could really have used her night-vision glasses. Touching her shoulder and the exposed flesh there, she knew she really could have used her more advanced mission clothes, or even her black super-suit. Both were made of the same self-healing fabric. No, she thought this was going to be veritable milk run. Just get some supplies to a village located deep in the forest and get back to the pick-up point.

It didn't work out quite like that. Instead of just villagers, she had to run afoul of one of the local warlords. It didn't take long for her to have to start dodging bullets, trying to simply get away from them. Most of the afternoon had been spent alternately moving away from them and going on the offensive. It kept them off-balance, but it left her dead-tired and running low on her reserves, just as she was out of the charges for her hair-dryer.

Kim was actually more scared than she had been in some time. There was something missing, something that was every bit a part of her as her own skin. It was something she had come to realize really was the key to her success over the years. Global Justice had it right when they were researching it, even though they simply abandoned the project without any further explanation, at least to her.

She was scared because she was alone.

Really, she should not have been. She knew she brought everything she needed to the table. Her acrobatic skills, her sixteen kinds of kung-fu, her understanding of how these sitches would fall into place. Her confidence in herself should have been high…

…but it wasn't.

There should have been a man at her side. He had some skills, though nowhere near at her level. He wasn't as strong and he wasn't as fast as her. While he was a long way from being stupid, he really wasn't as intelligent as she was. He could be a bit slow on the uptake, though somehow, when it really counted most, he could pull through in the clutch. Once again, on paper it didn't look like he would add too much to the situation, to the degree that she had to spend half her time pulling his butt out of the way of some impending attack.

Only without him, Kim felt like she was only half there. The emptiness was as palpable as the darkness that enveloped her. Much as she did not want it to, his absence was draining her soul just the way her constant flight had drained the energy from her muscles.

"_Chica_!" a voice came out of the night. The voice seemed a lot closer than she would have liked, though it was difficult to pin down where it was coming from. Everything was too soft and wet, absorbing sound. To make matters worse, the night was especially quiet. If she had been at home, sitting on the small deck of her apartment, there would have been night birds and insects calling out. For some odd reason there was none of that, though it stood to reason there should have been much more sound, considering the sheer number of living things surrounding her.

The quiet was just as unnerving as the thug who was calling out for her in the night.

"_Chica roja!_" The man called out. Kim had never studied Spanish officially, though her passing knowledge of Latin did help somewhat in that regard. Still, it wasn't too hard to understand what he was saying. 'Red girl' was a pretty apt description of her, especially since all the natives tended to have dark hair. Her auburn locks, even plastered down with sweat and the considerable damp of the rainforest, stood out like a sore-thumb. It occurred to her that perhaps a hat, like the floppy 'boonies' the military preferred in these situations, would help conceal her. There was a reason her pants were olive and her top black. Her hair was almost like a beacon against the riotous green.

"_Chica!_"

It was clear the thug was trying to psyche her out, and it was starting to work. The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, causing her heart to speed up, even as she tried stilling it. "_Chica roja!_" came once again, seeming ever closer.

As darkness fell, Kim had taken shelter in a tumbled stack of stonework that might have been a temple created by some lost civilization. Beyond the village she had been to the morning before, it was the only indication that people indeed lived in the region, though the jungle had done much to reclaim it. It was only the regularity of the stone blocks that told her that human hands had indeed somehow hewn them and carried them to the place. Trees had sent their roots deep into the cracks, splitting the stones and moving them about, though it still offered just a bit of shelter.

Kim suddenly came to realize, that, despite the balmy temperature, the constant dampness was starting to creep into her body, making her much colder than she should have been. How could one be so hot, yet chilled at the same time? Was her confidence that shaken? Was she that dependent on Ron?

Stuffing the dead grappler under one arm, she felt the ring finger of her left hand. There should have been a thick gold band there under the glove, adorned with a medium-size diamond, flanked by two emeralds. It was the ring Ron gave her when he formally proposed to her in front of their families. It was the sign that their lives were bound, that following the two semesters that represented their senior year at Middleton College they would stand in her church and be bound by vows that would legally make their two lives one. It didn't matter that they were already married in spirit. They would finally complete the path they had started on that day in high school, that one particular night when they both had the epiphany that they had been denying what the actual truth was.

Only the ring was not there!

Almost in a panic, she stripped the glove off. There was nothing on her hand, no emerald and diamond combo, not even the smaller, simpler ring he had given her when he first proposed days after turning eighteen. She pulled her other glove off as well. She very rarely put the old emerald promise ring on for missions, but its absence was just as startling. Had she simply forgotten them? She only took the engagement ring off to bathe. Was it sitting at home beside the sink?

Her breath ragged, her fingers went next to her ear-lobes. The tiny emerald earrings were not there either. Those too she often left off when she dressed for missions, fearing they would be lost. Despite that, she wished with all her heard they were there.

The necklace was gone as well, along with the tiny pictures of each of them enclosed in the small heart-shaped locket. Ron had given it to her, along with the earrings on her seventeenth birthday. He got the money for them by selling most of his collection of action figures and toys, symbolizing the step he was taking in growing up. In a way, he was heeding the ancient advice of putting away childish things. He did that for her, and for no other.

With a growing sense of dread, Kim realized she had nothing on her that tied her to her Soulmate.

She tried to strengthen her resolve. They were really nothing more than bits of metal and stone, cold things with no life of their own. They were symbols, not the love she had in her heart for him. Still, she was deeply troubled not having any of those things. She couldn't possibly have lost them somehow during the mission. She had put her gloves on at home once the call came in over her Kimmunicator, and hadn't taken them off until just that particular moment. That meant she had never put them on that morning when she got out of the shower.

Why hadn't she? At least she should have put the smaller ring on. Then there would have been something she could touch, something physical that reminded her of him. It scared her that she could be so absent-minded. What else had she forgotten?

Oh, that was easy. No gli-pack to fly her away from the bad-guys, no spare charges for the grappler, no machete to make her way through the lush greenery, no special gadgets to give her an edge over her opponents…nothing that she really needed. Was she slipping that badly?

Still, she would prevail. She was Kim Possible, and she could do anything, and if that meant taking on the jungle death-squad bare-handed, so be it.

"_Chica!_" There was no denying it. The voice was closer. She gasped audibly when she realized another mistake she had made. The old temple might have offered her some shelter from the elements, but these men obviously knew the lay of the land. They would know where it was and could guess that she had gone to ground there. Not counting the men she had rendered unconscious already, there still had to be at least a dozen of them out there, more if they had called in reinforcements.

She felt the presence more than heard him. She could almost smell the naked steel of the knife she knew must be in his hands. He was there. Kim couldn't tell if it was the man who had been calling out to her in the night, but the presence was undeniable. Death was coming for her.

Relying on her memory, she leapt up onto a ledge, hoping the darkness would aid her as much as it was her assailant. Unfortunately, the man had anticipated her move. A rough hand closed on her mouth, and she could feel his muscles tense as the blade came down.

Kim screamed.

She sat up suddenly. It was still just as dark, but everything else was different. Cold sweat trickled down from her forehead, bathing her body, making her clothing cling to her. Her heart raced as she realized she was not alone in a jungle, about to have her life ended on the point of a crude fighting knife.

Reaching out to her left, she touched the metal shade of the lamp sitting on her nightstand. The bulb came to life, throwing dim illumination on the small but comfortable bedroom. She touched the brass lamp two more times, bringing the light to full-power.

Just as she had been in the dream, she was alone. It took her several minutes to remember that she was supposed to be that way. Since the previous winter, she could count the number of nights she had slept alone on one hand. The old plan had been for them to wait until after they finished college, for them to wait until they were officially married, but things did not work out quite that way. Instead, they lived together for a time in the home she had grown up in, until they finally found their own apartment just off campus.

Kim climbed out of the bed and headed into her bathroom, splashing cold water on her face. Ron was spending the night in Denver, having gone there with his parents to attend the bris of his newborn cousin. Kim had stayed behind because of some last-minute preparations for the impending school year. It was supposed to be quite simple. One night apart and everything would be back to normal.

She wasn't counting on having a nightmare.

The adventure in South America had been real enough. They had been in the apartment all of two days, just long enough to have the rest of their furniture delivered. The place was an utter mess, but they went anyway. That was simply what they did. People needed help, that's all that mattered.

Only, that night in the rainforest, hiding in the tumble-down temple with their opponents taunting them in Spanish, Ron had been there with her, holding her in the darkness. He was the source of her strength then, the reason she was able to prevail the following morning. She returned home not only having delivered the critical supplies to the village, but capturing the warlord and his death-squad, putting them in the hands of the proper authorities.

It was only about four-thirty in the morning, but sleep was pretty much out of the question. Even if she was able to fall back into a restful slumber, there would be the chance she would dream once more. She wasn't prone to nightmares, but when she did have them, they frightened her. The other problem was, when she fell asleep again at that time of the morning, she had a tendency to do so for hours, making it hard to get up at six as she planned to do. There was also the matter of her being soaked in sweat. There was nothing worse than getting into a damp bed, even if she were to change out of the old, red jersey into something fresh.

There was a lot to do that day. Classes would start the next day, and she planned to get a jump on things, meeting with as many of her professors as she could. She would also hit the campus book store to pick up as much of the materials both of them would need as she could. It was time for that final push to graduation, the final hurdle before they could start their lives together in earnest.

Kim started the shower, simultaneously wishing Ron could be there with her and berating herself for acting like a frightened little girl simply because her best friend and lover was away for one night fulfilling his family responsibilities.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	2. Chapter 2

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 2**

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At least the weather was good for a change.

Gene Stoppable muttered to him self as he walked out toward the garage. For close to a week the weather had been gray and gloomy, though it really wasn't cool to go along with it. The summers were like that, and even though Labor Day had come and gone, fall had technically not arrived quite yet and the heat was uncharacteristically trying its best to hang on. The combination of the southerly breeze and the moisture made for a sticky, unpleasant week. Then, as if to cap the whole thing off, it rained heavily virtually the entire time he had been on the road, making the drive fairly miserable. It normally took about two and a half hours to get back from Denver, but the weather played heck with the normal Thursday morning rush hour, adding a good hour to the commute. In hindsight, they really should have stayed for breakfast and hit the road afterwards, but Ron had ridden with them and was eager to get back.

Gene loved his future daughter-in-law dearly, but sometimes he wondered if his son was a little _too_ wrapped up in her. Ron claimed he needed to get back to prepare for the first day of school, but he had been around the block enough to know it was really Kim he wanted to get back for. To be honest, he really couldn't blame the boy. He had been twenty-one once. Well, he was older that that when he first started dating Jean, but at least he understood what young love was like.

He rolled up the door of the garage, marveling a the open space that was suddenly available in there. With the large car finally gone there was enough room to moved, to get the lawnmower out without shoving fifty things out of the way. That wouldn't last long, he knew, but at least he could enjoy it while it lasted. The garage had always been a catch-all for junk, frequently piling up to the point it was difficult to get in and out. Occasionally Jean would convince her son to clean it out, but the woman was such a pack-rat it filled back up in short order.

It was kind of funny thinking about that ancient Pontiac. The thing smoked, drank high-dollar gas at an alarming rate, stalled frequently and was probably held together more with its rust than anything else, yet when he mentioned to his son that he was finally going to get rid of it, the boy literally begged to borrow it for a couple days. It wasn't like he actually needed his own car at the moment since he wasn't planning on getting a job, Kim's car served the two of them perfectly, especially since they were in easy walking distance to the campus. Still, she seemed as eager to have him drive the huge land-yacht for a couple days as he was. It didn't hurt and when it came time to deliver it to the junk-yard, Ron took it himself. He seemed almost as upset about the whole idea of disposing of the old junker as he was when he wrecked his motorcycle.

Gene wasn't stupid. Before the kids had their own apartment, before they actually started living together they had pretty much spent a good part of their relationship in that old car. There was some history there, he was sure, since they had gone on their first official date in it and had probably done their fair share of making out on the bluff. He allowed himself a little smile, figuring pretty much what kind of send-off the thirty-one year-old vehicle had seen in their hands. That was probably another good reason to let them take it in, rather than bringing it back to the house.

He grumbled as he pulled the lawnmower out, still having to dig it out from a pile of boxes that had accumulated on it over the course of the last two weeks. Didn't Jean realize they would probably have to use it a few more times before the grass stopped growing for the season? He shook his head as he rolled it out onto the driveway. He really should have cut the grass a week ago, but the rain had settled in, keeping him from doing it, leaving the yard looking rather shaggy.

Gene wondered if it would be wise to go out and finally buy a riding mower now that the responsibility had pretty much fallen on him. Perhaps a used one would work. He didn't go to extreme lengths with the yard, merely cutting and edging it, usually once-a-week, so a simple, small one would do the job just fine. He's still need the old push-mower, especially in the hilly portions of his back yard, but a rider would make the bulk of the job so much easier.

That never had been something he would consider when it was Ron's job to do the lawn. Riding mowers, even used ones, were somewhat expensive, and Gene didn't like spending money he didn't have to. Even when his son had started living with Kim full-time, he was only a short distance away at the Possible home, and could come over and take care of it when he had the time. Now he was living in an apartment clear on the other side of town, and it was difficult to cajole him into doing the job.

He sighed as he filled the tank up with gas. If the rain had cleared up earlier, he would have simply asked him to do it once they got back from their overnight trip to Denver. Instead, the weather decided to cooperate on the first day of classes, pretty much taking Ron out of the picture. There might be time for him to do it the next day, but Jean wouldn't care much for doing that kind of work on the Sabbath, and the Christian neighbors didn't appreciate having a lawnmower running on Sunday either. That argument he knew he could win with his wife, but he was sensitive enough with the neighbors not to do that. Besides, Kim and Ron were still putting the finishing touches on their apartment and would likely be buried in work from college in any case. It would be fortunate to even get the two of them to come to Temple in the morning.

The grumbling started again as he pulled the cord and started on the front. The rain and warmth had put the yard into overdrive, making it thicker than normal. That was going to force him to cut the front twice, once with the blade set a little higher than normal, then again to make it look good. The back yard was simpler, he could just take the mulching shield off and chew right through the thick grass. Jean would complain a little about the clippings, but if the weather held for the weekend, it would all dry out and pretty much disappear.

The sweating started before he even completed the first pass. What had seemed like a comfortable, dry day when he pulled the mower out quickly became oppressive and humid, at least to him. Two passes in and he had to stop and pull a handkerchief out to wipe his brow. With a muttered curse, he took his glasses off and stuck them in his shirt pocket. It would be more difficult to see exactly where he was going, but he could always get the spots he missed when he went back over the yard the second time.

_I'm getting too old for this_, he thought as he trudged on, pushing the mower slowly, taking one step at a time. _That, or I'm spending too much time sitting in a chair, staring at a computer screen._ When he was younger, and was working his way up through the ranks at the insurance company, he was always out in the field, driving and walking and generally staying relatively active. Over time that had changed, trapping him behind a desk for most of his day, then later allowing him to even do the majority of his work from his home-office. _I'm an actuary, I can work anywhere, he told himself_.

That didn't help the way he felt pushing that mower. The pain started in his lower back, telling him that he was very much out of shape. Maybe it would do him some good to work out with Kim and Ron sometimes. _Yeah, like that was going to happen._ Their easy workouts would likely kill him. In his mid-teens, Ron wasn't much of a physical specimen, though he did manage to keep up with Kim on their missions. Then, when their friendship suddenly morphed into young love, he really knuckled down. His son could still pack away the junk food when he wanted to, but he was healthier than he had ever been in his life, perhaps healthier than Gene had ever been.

About halfway through the yard he had to stop. The pain in his lower back was fading, but there was a slight pressure building in his chest. It wasn't so much pain, as it was uncomfortable. He thought back to the morning, and the night before. Breakfast had been the usual – half a toasted bagel with some fruit spread. Dinner was roasted chicken with peas and mashed potatoes. None of that was prone to give him heartburn. Of course, he did sneak out to Lechter's Deli for lunch after they got home the day before, but corned beef on rye had never betrayed him like that in the past. He balled up his fist and gave his chest bone a couple whacks, trying to make himself belch. That's what it felt like, as if he simply needed to burp but could not.

He took a little break, heading over behind the bushes to where the garden hose was rolled up. If Jean was home from work, she would fuss at him. No, more like scream at him, but all his life there had been nothing quite as good as water straight from the hose when he was hot and sweaty in the yard. His father had gotten him started doing that, teaching him to let the hot water sitting stagnant in the hose run out before taking a drink.

Refreshed, he went back out and started the mower once more. He smiled, since the pain in his back was all-but gone. He simply needed to get warmed up and chase some of the cobwebs out. Maybe he didn't need a riding mower after all. Maybe all he needed was one of those semi-self-propelled jobs, so all he would have to do was walk behind it on the straight-aways.

The pressure in his chest never really went away, though. Three-quarters of the way through the first cut he started feeling as if there was a piece of tape across his chest. He stopped, keeping one hand on the dead-man's switch so he wouldn't have to crank it again, but using his free hand to check and see if there was something inside his shirt, rubbing him. Shrugging, he went back to cutting.

Gene took another break once he finished the first cut and sat down on the porch. The pressure was getting more uncomfortable, feeling more like a cramp than anything else. _Not enough water, I'm not keeping properly hydrated_, he told himself as he headed back to the hose. He sipped the water slowly, not wanting the cool liquid to make the cramps any worse.

That didn't help. Wiping his forehead, he went back into the house to cool down, leaving the mower sitting in the middle of the front yard. The kitchen was the best place, since there was an easily accessible vent in the floor. He stood over it, letting the cold air from their HVAC system blow on him, cooling and drying him. That made him feel somewhat better, enough that he was ready to take on the rest.

Just as before, the stop was enough to energize him to go back to work. Maybe he needed some time at the pool. It had been years since he went to simply swim laps, but that always seemed to help him more than anything. It was certainly easier on him than jogging, and activity he avoided like the plague. With the grass knocked down by the first pass, the second cut went down pretty quickly.

Halfway through the back yard, the cramping feeling came back. Frustrated, he just ignored the pain and pushed on through, finishing it up quickly. The back was smaller than the front, not counting the hillside, but he could come back and do that with the weed-whacker later on after lunch.

That is, if he felt like eating with the strong cramps.

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"You sure you wanna do this, KP?"

Kim took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. He could tell she was nervous, more so than she had been before their last mission.

"Yes, Ron. Before you even say it, my head really is in the game. I just don't know why we have to keep going back to this place. You'd think we were past this now, like we should have been over it."

"I hope so. You're looking awfully cranked."

"Well, it's just…this place. I figured after, well, after all this time we could forget it even existed, yet, here we are again, all dressed up and about to go in there once more."

"It's not so bad…"

"Ron, I hate this place. I hate the memories of it, all the pain and suffering it's caused. We've done our time coming here, it's time for somebody else to have to deal with it."

"To quote somebody I know, so not the drama." He said with a smile. "Besides, you said you would do it, and you hate going back on your word."

"I know. I can do anything, and that includes going in this place. Just promise me, we're just gonna go in, take care of business and get back out again. It's just another mission as far as I'm concerned."

"Amp down the drama, Kim. It's not like we're going into Drakken's Caribbean lair or something."

"Hmmph. I'd rather go there, to tell you the truth. Actually, I'd rather go into Duff's castle, Monkey Fist's manor, or even that cobweb filled tunnel on Arkonia than go in here."

Ron shuddered involuntarily, remembering all the little crawling things that were all over him then. It had taken every bit of his will to keep from freaking out then, but that was in the middle of a mission, so he didn't have the luxury of giving into his fear of small, flickable insects.

Kim took note of his reaction. "See, that's how I feel about this place. It literally makes my skin crawl."

"If it makes you feel any better, KP, just remember we're doing this for somebody. For several somebodies. You like helping people, don't you? Not to mention, it is my little sister we're talking about here."

"I know. Let's get going." She stepped out of the car and checked her clothing, making sure they had everything they would need. If they were lucky, they could get in, do what they planned, and get out just as quickly. That is, if Ron could stay focused on the prize. _He's telling me to get my head in the game. So not. I'm okay, I can do this. Like I just said, I can do anything._

She paused at the door. Why was she so afraid of this place? It really wasn't all _that_ bad, was it? It wasn't like there was going to be a hoard of goons waiting to take her out. It wasn't like there was some doomsday device inside.

"You want me to do it?" Ron asked, watching as her hand wavered about six inches from the door handle.

"No, we're doing this together. It's the two of us together from now on, just like when we get married. Rich or for poor, sickness and health, yadda-yadda. We either do this together, or not at all." Screwing up her courage, she pulled the door handle.

It was worse than she remembered it. The smell, the noise, everything just blended together, making her nose wrinkle as if it had a mind of its own. What was worse, there really was an army of goons there waiting for them. The place was packed with them, in all shapes and sizes.

Fortunately, none of them seemed to pay her any attention. They simply went on about what they were doing, which was mostly making as much noise as possible. The cacophony of voices, clatterings and electronic sounds was nearly deafening. Kim Possible found herself considering something she would have never thought possible.

She was ready to turn and flee. In that instant she realized what Ron felt when he was faced with attacking monkey ninjas, or some other thing that creeped him out. The feeling was very real and could not easily be ignored.

_How had humanity created something like this?_

The smell alone was enough to drive her back out the door, back to her car. She was glad lunch had been many, many hours ago, or the unbelievably bad food at the student cafeteria would have come right back up. It was worse than she ever remembered it before.

Ron didn't seen affected in the least. He stepped in the door beside her and took a deep breath. How could a man who was in training to be a chef and restaurateur even stand it?

One of the denizens suddenly burst from the crowd, seemingly charging right at her. She yelped, unable to stop herself. "Gah!"

"Mmmm, just like I remembered it." Ron said, sniffing the air once more. "Come for the video games, stay for the burnt pizza smell."

Kim grabbed his hand and pulled him further into J. P. Bearymore's Pizza Party-torium. Normally she liked being around small children, but there was something about the place, maybe the smell of over-cooked, horridly cheap pizza, maybe something they put in the drinks, perhaps even something embedded in the incessant music turned normally thoughtful children into a pack of little monsters.

Thankfully, Jim and Tim, her twin brothers, had quickly outgrown the place during their pre-teens. They were little monkeys in their own right, though the party-themed restaurant seemed to bring out the worst, even in them. Their antics had led to their father getting his leg broken after stepping on a stray ball from the ball-pit. Kim knew it was a place of evil, evil enough to injure a healthy man with something so simple as a hollow plastic sphere.

Their target was fairly easy to spot. Jean stood up, waving for them to come over. Several tables had been butted together so a crowd of toddlers and their parents could 'enjoy' the celebration. Steeling herself, Kim put on her best game face, trying to make it look like she was actually happy to be there.

The object of the little party looked just about as happy to be there as Kim was. Catherine Jean Stoppable was sitting at the head of the table with her arms crossed. Normally the toddler, who Ron always called CJ, was bright and full of energy, running around screaming like the teeming mass of kids in the restaurant were doing.

Maybe it had something to do with how she was dressed. Usually she would just wear shorts and a t-shirt, hand-me-downs from her brother that neither of them had any reason to suspect were still around. Gene and Jean spent almost eighteen years trying to have a second child, and they hung onto hope for all that time.

Instead of her usual "Eugene the Jeep" t-shirt, CJ had on a little frilly sky-blue dress and ribbons in her corn-yellow hair. For her, the only appropriate time to be dressed that way was when they went to Temple on Saturday mornings, not for a birthday party and especially not her own.

Gene motioned for the couple to come sit down near him once they deposited the gaily wrapped gift on the pile. "Glad you two could finally make it."

"It took longer to get clear of the school than we expected. We're in for more work than we've ever done in our lives."

"Oh, you'll do just fine. Come on, have a seat."

"You okay, Dad?" Ron asked as he picked a slice of plain cheese pizza from the platter. Typically, the kids wanted the flat pies, but they didn't want any kind of 'yucky' toppings.

Gene patted his chest slightly with his fist. "Eh, this pizza isn't agreeing with me too well."

"Well, go easy on it."

"No, you don't have a cast-iron stomach like Ron does." Kim added.

She caught movement from the direction of the kitchens. The same bald, skinny waiter they dealt with six years earlier was coming toward them, bearing a decorated sheet cake with a huge number 3 candle burning on top. The animatronic band stopped suddenly, switching into their own birthday song, which all of the kids seemed to know, though their parents simply faked it. Kim wondered if anyone actually sang the traditional 'happy birthday' song any more.

It was still ferociously weird that Ron was twenty-one and his little sister was just turning three. At times it seemed like they were spending as much time as her parents taking care of her, though that really wasn't the case. She looked so much like her brother, though, that many people assumed she was in fact their daughter when they saw them out. A lot of folks even acted somewhat shocked, still thinking that Kim was just a fifteen or sixteen year-old teenager. They seemed to forget that the "Diablo Incident" was almost four and a half years earlier.

Then again, it was going to be a long, long time before Kim had to haul around a three-year-old of her own. She was going to allow herself a particular kind of selfishness, spending a few years simply married to Ron before they started their own family. At twenty-one herself, she wasn't ready to be a mother. That could wait until her mid-to-late twenties, perhaps even thirty.

Somehow she was eventually able to forget just how detestable the place was and actually enjoyed herself, though the one slice of pizza she tried to eat almost made her gag. She couldn't blame Gene for feeling a bit yucky after eating the stuff.

She would be patting her belly as well if she managed to choke enough of that gorchy pizza down.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	3. Chapter 3

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 3**

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"Okay, Ron…up!"

Kim yanked the covers back off the bed. She had already opened the blinds, letting bright sunshine into their bedroom.

Ron shielded his eyes against the painful rays of golden light streaming through the window. "Aw man! It's church week, KP. Wanna sleep." Ever since they had been together as a couple, they had alternated weeks going with each other to church or to Temple. After a couple years, they fell into the habit of going to one or the other each week, instead of going alone. That meant Ron pretty much didn't have a good reason to get out of bed that Saturday morning, especially considering the networks had pretty much given up on good cartoons any more.

Well, there was one good reason, a red-haired reason that weighed about a hundred five pounds.

"It's already eight o'clock in the morning and I've been up for an hour and a half. It was bad enough we slept in practically all summer, now get up and get dressed. We've got to do our workout, fix breakfast, work on our assignments, stop off at Mom and Dads so we can pick up Joss."

"Joss? What are we?..."

"She's going with us out to Lake Middleton this afternoon. Remember? We were finally going to meet this Bobby guy she's dating face-to-face. Well, I've met him, but that didn't go too well."

Ron grabbed on of his pillows and covered his face with it, trying to block out the sunlight. "KP, do you have any idea what time we finally got to bed last night?"

"I'm not the one who had to have a full-on date after CJ's party." She retorted, pulling the pillow from his face and throwing it on the floor. "Come on, get up, lazy boy. I'm going to change this bed." She picked up another pillow, sniffing it. "Gah! Even the sheets have that nasty burnt pizza smell in them now."

Muttering, Ron swung his legs out of the bed and stumbled toward the bathroom. Kim stopped pulling the bed apart for a moment to watch him go. His boxers weren't pulled all the way up, though she was surprised he had them on at all. They finally excused themselves from the party about eight and headed out to their favorite steak house to get some real food. From there they actually went to a movie, acting like a couple of teenagers in the back row once they realized the picture was an utter dud.

The big change from when they were teens was the fact they didn't have to go from the theater to the old bluff to make out. They had their own home and their own bed to come to. They went from acting like teenagers to acting like adults, not getting to sleep until around two in the morning.

Kim didn't know how she could function on just four and a half hours of sleep, but once her eyes opened up that morning, she knew she was fully awake and ready to take on the day. Ron, of course, was dead to the world, so she let him sleep for a little while longer. Then, when it looked like he would sleep right up until noon if she let him, she was forced to act.

She went back to her housework as the shower started up. Normally she liked sharing it with him, but had felt particularly greechy when she got up, so he would have to go it alone for once. Oh, if he asked she would likely strip right out of the gym shorts and crop top she had on to join him, though it wouldn't be to bathe.

No, she had enough of that the night before, and the night before that. She told herself she was making up for the night Ron was away, though that was kind of silly. There would be times when they had to spend the night apart. There would even be times when they would simply come to bed and go to sleep, night after night. That hadn't happened yet. There was the odd night when they were just too pooped to pop, but for the most part the current stage of their relationship was too new and both of them wanted to enjoy every minute of it.

Still, Kim was a firm believer in 'right place and right time.' Granted, it was Saturday morning and it was their apartment, so either of those strictures really could apply. No, like it or not, they had some responsibilities to take care of. She did want to get the school work out of the way early so they would have all of their Sunday free after church.

As she put the fresh sheets on the bed (an act that would have shocked her mother far more than what they had done on the old ones the night before) Kim pondered a personal question that had been bothering her for the last few weeks. Right before the fiasco with their first apartment, she mentioned to Ron's Rabbi that she was in the beginning stages of considering the possibility of converting to Judaism. On the surface it seemed like a very loving thing to do for Ron. It would solve the issue about them having a mixed marriage and, she thought, it would bring them even closer together, if that were even humanly possible.

Surprisingly, Rabbi Katz had pretty much shot her down. What she thought were good reasons to go through the intense and difficult process really weren't good at all. In fact, when she really got down to it, there were actually a little selfish and disingenuous. He told her the reason she should even think about making such a change would be because she had an overriding desire in her heart to do so because of what she believed in.

That gave her pause. What actually did she believe? When people asked, it was easy enough to say she was a Lutheran, and therefore a Christian. She went to church, sang the hymns, listened attentively to the pastor, said the prayers, and took communion, but did any of that really make her a Christian? Somewhere she heard the term "Sunday Morning Christian" and came to realize that may well apply to her. The rest of the week she lived in the secular world, a place of science and laws. Her own parents were much the same. Her father lived in a world governed by the laws of physics, where so much thrust would send a rocket of such mass into space at such and such an angle. Her mother knew how the body, especially the nervous system worked. She knew what part of the brain did what and how to work on it with detailed skill.

Kim had to accept the fact that despite going to church for the better part of her life, it was only something that existed in the back of her mind. Was that really faith?

From that perspective, converting to Judaism was out of the question.

Ron came back into the bedroom, dressed in a terry bathrobe. He made a couple corrections on the freshly made bed (what was it about cooking and housework that he could almost always prove superior at it?) and started picking out the clothes he was going to wear.

Kim walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Mmmm, now you smell good. Almost good enough to eat."

Ron briefly rested his hands over his fiancé's. "Maybe washing my hair with mandarin orange shampoo isn't such a bright idea then."

"I was actually talking a little dirtier than that, baby." Kim giggled.

"Eep." He squeaked as he pulled on a fresh set of boxers.

"You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you really don't have to do the thing with the bathrobe any more."

Ron slipped a pair of running shorts on , setting the robe aside. "I thought you didn't like for me to parade around naked."

Reaching around him again, she pulled herself up against him. "That was when we were living with other people, Ronnie. Nothing wrong with having a nice view when you get out of the shower. It's just the two of us in this apartment, and there's also a reason for having an attached bathroom."

"Well, in that case, I guess I'll just get naked and go watch TV."

"So not." She gave his backside a little squeeze and went back to her housework, gathering the old sheets into a basket so she could take them to the laundry room.

"KP, have you seen Rufus?"

"Not this morning. I think he's still pretty bugged about how late we were up last night. You know he likes to sleep with us." That, in fact, had been happening less and less. Ron's little naked mole rat friend always gave them privacy when they got romantic, though he did have a sense of when it was appropriate for him to reappear.

"Rufus! Buddy! I'm making scrambled eggs with cheese this morning. I'm going to need somebody to clean the grater!"

A tiny shape appeared in the door, bolting across the floor and scampering up his human, taking his usual perch on his shoulder. "Mmmm, cheese." He squeaked, rubbing his round little belly.

Kim smiled softly, putting the basket on the living room couch. There were still a couple boxes left to unpack, something they kept telling themselves they would get around to, though some dust was already starting to settle on them. Ron might have been good at housework, but he was definitely not a neat-freak.

That was apparent with the condition of the den/living room of the apartment. There was still a pair of size twelve sneakers actually sitting on the coffee table, where they had landed several nights earlier. A red v-neck jersey with cream colored strips was draped across the chair facing the flat-panel television. Every time Kim noticed it she thought of telling him to pick up his clothes, but then, with her cheeks reddening slightly, she realized she was the one who left it there, the blush because of why she had taken it off that particular evening. Not that she was embarrassed about being with her fiancé, but because either set of parents could show up at any moment during the day. Her mother knew that the old jerseys saw much more use as Kim's sleepwear those days, and would likely divine how they ended up there.

Her smile disappeared as a familiar sound reached her from the bedroom. Picking her way past a pair of cargo shorts sitting in the floor, she went back in and picked a slightly chunky bracelet up from the table. Unlike her other jewelry, this one had a small screen set into a blue casing, a miniature of her old hand-held Kimmunicator.

"What's the sitch?" She asked as she keyed the accept button.

"You guys dressed?" A disembodied voice asked. Wade had long gotten in the habit of using just the audio at first, being more embarrassed about their physical relationship than they were.

"If you can stand seeing Ron without his shirt." Kim answered. Moments later, a small holographic projection of their friend and computer guru winked to life.

"You guys up for a mission? Or should I give this one to Jim and Tim?"

"We've got a little work to do, but I think we can manage. What's up?"

Wade nodded. More and more often of late he had been sending the call to Kim's little brothers, or sometimes to her cousin Joss. The younger Possibles were taking on more and more responsibility with Team Possible, something Kim actually encouraged, not so much to avoid the missions, but to let them get the experience they would need when the reigns were shifted to them once they got married and settled down.

"There's been a break-in at a…" he paused, waiting for Kim to finish the sentence for him.

She grinned at him, playing a little game with the teen.

"Uh, Kim, you're supposed to say 'at a top-secret lab.'"

"Can't a girl be polite?" She answered right back at him, her grin widening.

"Right. I'm sending the flyer over. The course is already programmed in, though if you want to fly it yourself."

Kim nodded. Instead of relying on others to transport them all around the globe, he had built them a small aircraft that could either be controlled by remote, or piloted manually. It was handy for when they needed to get someplace fast and kept them from having to call Global Justice, especially considering they really didn't fully trust the international crime-fighting agency.

"Recommendations?"

"I think your standard mission gear should be appropriate. Want me to download the particulars into the Flyer's computer?"

"Please and thank you." She signed off, heading for the walk-in closet.

Ron appeared in the doorway, stirring a bowl. "Let me guess, another half-dozen eggs going to waste?"

"Fraid so, baby. Suit up, we're on."

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Kim had a pretty good idea where they were going, even before the little blue Flyer started arcing toward the west once they cleared the buildings of downtown Middleton. She read the mission file, shaking her head ruefully. When were these people ever going to learn?

The lab itself was hidden deep in the Rockies. From the outside it really didn't look like anything special, just some non-descript white buildings with a single low water-tower serving the small complex. The scientists who worked there tended to be very secretive, to the point they originally simply sent the call for help with only general directions on how to get there. Once they were in the vicinity, they would transmit the final coordinates.

They needn't have bothered. Once Kim read the particulars, she knew exactly where they were going. If she wanted to, she could have flown there herself. She was fully licensed by the FAA to fly the small craft and actually enjoyed operating it from time to time. Instead, she just let Wade's pre-programmed flight plan bring them in, letting the seemingly paranoid researchers guide them in the final approach.

The lab itself was a shambles. They had seen it before, on several occasions. Huge metal gates had been ripped right off their hinges, as was a thick metal door on a vault, where the item that was presumably stolen had been stored.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Miss Possible." The head scientist said. It was almost as if there was a uniform dress code for such men. He had a thick salt and pepper beard that draped over the front of his white lab-coat. "The project we have been working on is of the utmost importance. I cannot begin to tell you how dangerous it would be in the wrong hands."

"Let me guess." Ron said between sips of his grande-sized soft drink. He spent the entire time changing into his mission clothes griping about not getting his morning meal, so Kim let him stop at Bueno Nacho for some breakfast Nacos, only adding about five minutes to their whole trip. "It's something so secret you can't even tell us what it is."

"Uh, how did you know?"

"Been there, done that." Kim answered. "When are you going to lock the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer up so nobody can get to it?"

The scientist looked at his partner, then back at Kim. "We don't exactly have the PDVI any more. Once we realized how dangerous it was, we turned it over to Global Justice so they could store it more securely. Twice bitten, and all that."

"Then what are we looking for?" She asked, scowling slightly.

"Yeah, are we talking about a garage eating blob that spits up evil garden gnomes? A ray-gun thingy that can cure the common cold?" Ron asked, hitting the bottom of his soda.

"Oh, nothing like that. I'm afraid we were never quite able to duplicate our success with Ray-X." The assistant said.

"We were working on another device along the lines of the PDVI, something that could produce similar results…"

"…without creating a black hole the size of Nevada." The other man completed for him.

"We call it the Multi-Phasic Portal Generator."

"So, what does this multi-fading doohickey do?" Ron brushed up against Kim, absently putting an arm around her waist.

"It's classified." The lead scientist said regretfully.

"But it's dangerous. In the wrong hands…"

Kim rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, you tried making something that could open a vortex without it being as dangerous as the PDVI, but instead you made something even worse?"

"Pretty much."

"So, does it create a black hole the size of, say, Kansas?"

"No, but it does create a distortion in the space-time continuum the size of the moon. If it were to be used…it would be catastrophic."

"KP, look at this." Ron was kneeling beside the crumpled remains of the front security gate. A very familiar set of gouges marked the edges. Rufus hopped off his shoulder, sniffing them. Unlike the last time they had been there, he simply shrugged, unable to pick up a particular scent.

Kim traced the deep scratch marks with her fingers. "It can't be."

Ron shook his head as well. "I thought she wasn't doing this sort of thing any more."

"I thought so too. In fact, I'm having a hard time even thinking about it. You know how important her daughter is to her."

"You really think Shego has gone evil on us again?" Normally, Kim would call her former nemesis by her real name, Sherry, but given the circumstances, it was quite easy to lapse into thinking of her by her professional name.

"This doesn't make sense. Even though she's supposedly turned the other cheek, GJ has had her under constant surveillance. If she did this, that means she had to power up, and they would have been on her in a heartbeat if she had. Still, this is her MO."

She stood up, pulling the cuff of her glove back, exposing her Kimmunicator. They weren't supposed to use the system while they were in the complex because of security reasons, but there was simply too much at stake. With something as dangerous as the MPG out there, she needed everything she could get.

There was another reason as well; her reputation. It had been on her word that Global Justice finally agreed to leave the seemingly reformed Shego and Doctor Drakken alone. If it were up to her, the raven-haired former villainess would have been trucked off to the deepest, darkest prison in the country, with guards posted round-the-clock with Metaform Power Inhibitors to prevent her from using her green glow to escape. Yet, something inside her told her to trust the woman, if only for the sake of the little dark-haired girl that had been born in her own home.

If Sherry Godfrey had reverted to type, that was more than just the danger the one-time mercenary and villainous sidekick represented, it was the damage it would do to Kim's good word. As ferociously wrong as it seemed, that was actually the most important thing to her.

"Wade, I need a top-to-bottom tech scan of this place."

"I'm on it. Have you got a hand-held Kimmunicator with you?"

"Right here." Ron pulled the metallic silver device from one of his cargo pockets. Their wrist mounted units could do it as well, but the larger sensors in the older unit would do the job much more effectively. He waved it around as a faint beam played on the damaged metal.

"Anything specific I'm looking for?" he asked as his hands danced on his keyboards.

"Residual power signatures. Specifically Shego's."

"Huh? That doesn't figure. I mean, she's at her home on Mount Middleton right now."

"Or that's what she wants us to think." Ron said coldly. Kim may have learned to trust her to some extent, but he still didn't and likely never would.

"No, the trace on her tracking chip is solid. So is Drakken's. If they discovered the devices and tried to deactivate them, I'd know."

"Wade, we're talking about a mad-genius here. Drakken may be an idiot sometimes, but he does know a lot of science. Are you sure there's no way they could be faking the signal?"

"I'm pretty certain they're not. Oh, by the way, I am picking up a faint residual signature, but it's inconclusive. Somebody with some kind of power was in there all right."

Kim switched off the Kimmunicator and grabbed Ron's hand, dragging him behind her. "Come on, we're going to pay a little visit."

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	4. Chapter 4

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 4**

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Sherry "Shego" Godfrey knew she really should have been out of bed quite some time ago. In fact, if she didn't go ahead and get up, her two-year-old daughter was going to be whining not only about missing breakfast, but about missing lunch as well.

The other thing she knew was that she was supposed to feel upset. Things had spiraled out of control the night before and she did some things that, by the light of day, she really thought she was supposed to regret. Amethyst was put down early, there was some dinner, a bottle of wine. There wasn't anything wrong with that. They were two adults who finally admitted to each other they actually were good friends. It wasn't a date, it was just supposed to be a pleasant evening.

She knew the wine bottle was probably still sitting on the kitchen table, empty. Normally she wasn't very fond of wine, preferring imported beer, or harder stuff in the form of a 'Long-Island Iced Tea.' It was just a touch too 'froo-froo' for her. For some odd reason, she just kept filling her glass, over and over…and so did he.

It wasn't the fact she got drunk. She really wasn't all that out of control, just a little bit tipsy. Even powered down, her system wouldn't allow her to get one hundred percent hammered. She might have been able to damp her Go Team Glow down to the point her skin and eyes appeared normal and her 'flames' would not function, but the power was still there, in every cell of her body. That gave her the ability to drink just about anyone under the table, if she were given to such trivial games.

The claret liquid did give her a very pleasant glow. Maybe that was why she did what she did after the Beaujolais was gone. Maybe too it was the fact that it hadn't happened since the night Amethyst was conceived, and she was due. Was it because she really didn't get out that much, that she was almost constantly around that one particular man?

There was some honest affection there, though up until the previous night it had always been sort of platonic. There was no question in her mind that he was in love with her. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice. It had been there for a long time, but she was just blind to it before. Not so much because she was in denial, but because it was just not something she was looking for.

That didn't mean she never considered that this might actually happen. She was a woman, he was a man, they were together almost all the time. She didn't have to consider it likely to actually consider the act itself. Somehow she always thought she would be filled with revulsion and self-loathing. That wasn't the case.

Sherry was lying in bed the morning after sleeping with Drakken feeling strangely happy.

He was already up, possibly doing some housework. Her 'housemate' looked so funny when he put on an apron and did things like the laundry, or pushing a vacuum cleaner. Just the sight of him doing it made her want to roll around on the floor laughing. To think the same man who almost took over the world with a million evil robots could be reduced to performing the tasks of a maid.

Those thoughts only made her smile as she stretched once more, trying to convince herself to get out of bed while it actually was still morning. She had no idea why she felt that way. It wasn't like Drakken had rocked her world. On the contrary, he was quite awkward about the whole thing, as if he had absolutely no idea how to proceed. Maybe it had been considerably longer for him than it had been for her. He was pushing fifty, so there was no way that could have been his first time.

Could it?

She really didn't know one way or the other. Of his life before he hired her as one of his goons, she didn't have a clue. He simply never talked about it. For somebody she had spent the majority of the last decade with, she really didn't know all that much about him. She had met his mother on several occasions, and his cousin once, but really knew nothing about his family. Sherry even had to admit, she didn't know why he was blue. What was it about super-villains anyway? When she was powered up, her skin was mint green. Drakken was baby blue, Dementor was jaundiced yellow…

Sitting up in the bed, she thought about the man she had been with. He wasn't very adept in bed, he wasn't especially good-looking. His body, while non-heinous, was nothing to write home about either. If it weren't for the blue skin (Gah! Why wasn't she freaking out from the fact _everything_ was blue?) he would look like a pretty average guy, the kind most people would see and instantly forget. He wasn't the kind of guy she normally liked. Not muscular, not tanned, not gorgeous.

Why was it she was happy?

One bad thought did cross her mind. The last time she lost control and ended up in bed, well, the result was the little mini-Shego with blue eyes and dark-brown hair singing to herself in her own room. What if that happened again? Was that the reason she was feeling the way she was? Could a hormonal shift be responsible for the strong feeling well-being she was experiencing?

Pushing that one troubling thought out of her mind, she gave herself over to the afterglow. Was that what it was? Could it be that the guy who had been right at her side all that time was capable of leaving her so deeply satisfied, no matter how poor his skills were? She finally decided the proper answer was 'who cares.' It was Saturday morning, the sun was out, she was happy instead of being her usual sour-puss self. Why not enjoy it for a change?

Slipping on some shorts and a sleeveless 'hoodie' she headed out of her room. Amethyst was sitting on the floor of her room, playing with a black and tan stuffed animal. Normally seeing her playing with that one particular toy gave her a twinge of her old anger, but even that didn't bother her as good as she was feeling. Who cared if her daughter absolutely loved a toy that Kim Possible had given her. It was nothing more than a doll, a toy, a strange cross between a panda and a kangaroo with a star stitched to its neck. She would love it no matter who gave it to her.

She came to a dead halt as she reached the far end of the hallway. Drakken was sitting at his desk with his back to her, humming softly as he worked on something. It had better be one of his models, and not some high-tech gadget. They were safe from Global Justice so long as they behaved and while she didn't care all that much about what might become of the two of them, while Amethyst was a small child, she was not going to do anything that would put her in danger of being taken away.

That wasn't what brought her up short, however. How exactly was she supposed to deal with him? Was she supposed to go give him a kiss? Was she just supposed to go in the kitchen and pour herself a mug of coffee like nothing ever happened? All her happiness was suddenly chased away by a sudden feeling of total awkwardness. What would he expect of her? Did he think that something special had passed between the two of them and would want a relationship, or were they still simply best friends, now with benefits? Was it even something that was going to happen again?

Strangely, she hoped it might.

Things were much simpler with Amethyst's father. The morning after she couldn't wait to rush in and give him a kiss. Then again, they had been lovers as teens, so there really wasn't any freaky weirdness involved then. Neil had once been her boyfriend, and that sort of thing was, in a way, expected.

Maybe this was why normal people said an 'office' romance was never a good idea. Drakken was really supposed to be a coworker and boss. No, that part of their lives was over. Not only was there the issue of her daughter, but when Doctor Director made the deal, she also made it quite clear how dangerous she thought the two of them had become. The next time it wouldn't be Kim Possible and her little fiancé coming after her, it would be men with rifles they would never see coming. Global Justice was through playing games.

Then what were they? Yes, in a way they could be considered friends, even best friends. She really didn't have a problem with that. It was also good for Amethyst. The little girl had two people in her life, her mother, and a man who really could represent something of a father figure. In fact, her very first words were something that sounded reasonably like 'da-da.' At the time, she had been sitting on his knee, playing horsy with him.

Drakken quickly picked her up and handed her to her mother before heading into his room. Sherry thought he was angry at first, then stopped as she heard something she never thought possible through the door. Drew Lipsky, the self-proclaimed evil megalomaniac, was actually crying because a little girl called him Daddy.

Sherry never once so much as thought about correcting her daughter. If she wanted to think it was Drakken, then so be it. He might have been a buffoon in his own right, but it was better than her growing up without one at all.

Maybe that was the answer after all. Honest affection coupled with a healthy libido and some control-reducing alcohol had been a recipe for a strange, yet satisfying experience.

That still didn't answer her question on how to proceed at that very moment.

Steeling herself, she simple entered the room, picked up a magazine and sat down on the couch. Her eyes kept going from the random article she turned to, to Drakken's head, then back again. It only took about thirty seconds for it to dawn on her that he was feeling just as awkward about the situation as she was.

Finally, she couldn't stand it any more. "Sure is nice out today. Think we could risk running into town, maybe do some shopping?"

"Er, uh, Pasadena."

"Why?" She was surprised how much his answer actually hurt, though she didn't quite know why.

He turned around, briefly meeting her eyes before looking down at the floor. "It's too warm out for me to cover up. Those idiots at Global Justice might not be after us any more, but that's not going to keep the local police, the state police, the FBI, not to mention agents from just about every other nation on the globe, from trying to bring us in."

She frowned, not really having a good comeback for that point. In fact, the only time he had actually left the house for any length of time had been back when she was pregnant, and the majority of those trips had been during the cold months, when he could get away with wearing gloves and heavy coats, with some makeup on his face to hide his azure complexion.

He turned back to the model he was working on. He didn't like his hands being idle, and being prevented on working on any 'mad-science' he settled for making models of his past doomsday devices. The miniature 'Centripetal Oscillator' wasn't the most wowful of his creations, but at least it was accurate, save for the fact it didn't have black smoke coming from it, or have a tiny version of her tangled up in the circuitry.

Finally he spoke, not turning back to face her.

"We're not going to speak of this again, are we?"

Sherry put down the magazine and started at the back of his head for a couple moments. Anger started flaring slightly, though she didn't know if it was a delayed reaction to what had happened, or the fact he wasn't acting the way she thought he should.

"What's there to talk about?" She asked finally.

"Nothing, I guess."

"Then no, we won't." She said quickly, getting up and heading towards the bathroom.

Why did she do that? One of the worst things Drakken had ever done to her involved running away. What she really wanted to say was 'it was nice' and 'I hope we can do that again sometime,' though she was loath to admit that, even to herself.

She sat down on the floor of the bathroom doorway, leaning against the jam. She was supposed to be Shego. Hadn't she burned the bridges between what was good and what was evil? Hadn't she threatened her own brother's lives until they admitted she was 'super bad?'

Why was she behaving like a school-girl with a crush over what should have been a meaningless romp under the sheets?

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The little blue craft streaked away from the Rocky Mountain research center, bearing its two passengers back toward their Colorado home, or at least to a home not terribly far from there.

Kim waited until they were out of sight of the complex before she contacted Wade again. "Having any luck locking down their latest missing toy?"

"Not a thing, Kim. I'm working under the assumption those guys were pretty much barking up the same tree as the PDVI, but if whoever's got the MPG has tried using it, nothing's showing up on any of my satellite scans." Wade shrugged his shoulders before stroking the little 'soul-patch' goatee he had recently grown. At sixteen, he was already as big as most adults. In fact, he was not all that far from being as large as Ron's one-time school nemesis, Steve Barkin. If he didn't stop growing soon, he was going to be a giant!

Ron was squirming slightly in his seat, trying to get comfortable in the harness. It wasn't that it was poorly designed, but he still had some bad memories of the time they got shot down over Greenland. "Maybe if we had a look at their security cameras. Stupid security freaks, how are we supposed to help them if they can't give us anything to work with."

Wade just grinned knowingly at him from the screen in the middle of the console. "Way ahead of you there, Ron. I hacked into them before you even got there." He touched a button, showing a playback.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing there. One moment the system was recording, the next the place was a wreck.'

"Somebody shut the security system down?" Kim asked.

"Not from what I'm seeing. The time codes all match up. There's no missing footage."

"Oh no." Ron exclaimed. "You don't think?..."

"…That it's the Bebe robots?" Wade finished. "I thought of that, but even when I tried freezing the footage of that moment, all I got was one frame normal, one messed up. I don't think they could move that fast, even at hyper-speed. Something else is going on."

"What if the security system was tampered with? They could have hacked into it and played a loop of the place and took it off when they left."

"Thought of that too. If they did that, they're the best I've ever seen. There's no trace of any hack except mine. Let me tell you, their stuff is good. It took me a whole minute to crack it myself."

"Keep me posted Wade." Kim clicked the screen off and settled back into her own seat so she could relax the rest of the way.

"If Wade says it wasn't Shego, then why are we going to see her?" Ron asked, tugging at the straps of his helmet.

_Why was he so fidgety?_ Kim asked herself. It wasn't just the Flyer, he had been that way since about halfway through their first day of classes. At first she put it off to nerves, but something was bothering him, and it really bothered her that he had not told her why.

"I want her to tell me herself she didn't have anything to do with this. I don't think she did either, but we have to be certain."

"She could lie."

"Yeah, but all the same, I'm going to feel better hearing it from her. I trust Wade and his tech, but this is just good police-work."

"Speaking of work, don't we have to get our assignments done? I mean, I'm not happy that we're going to have to blow off the afternoon we had planned with Joss and her boyfriend, but I don't want to end up panicking tomorrow trying to get it all done."

She glanced at Ron sideways, then actually pulled her glove off and put the back of her hand to his forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"

"What are you talking about, KP?"

"You sure don't sound like yourself. I thought procrastination was something you were really good at."

"Hey! You know I'm not like that any more. I got into college, and I'm a senior now, just like you."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just don't want to spend the day tomorrow with the very first assignments hanging over my head. There's not all that much to do, but you know me, I can still freeze up and end up spending four hours on a thirty minute problem."

"If you say so. Any word yet from your thesis committee?"

"Not yet. They won't meet until sometime in early October anyway. Still can't get over that you had to spend so much time of our last summer together working on yours."

"Couldn't be helped, not if I wanted to cram all the course-load I had to so we can graduate together. Tell you what, when we get back home this afternoon we can hole-up in our apartment and do our assignments together." She put a hand on his leg and gave it a good squeeze. "Remember how we used to study together back in High School?"

That brought out a smile. "Reward-based school work, badical!"

"I thought you'd like that. I might even get that bathing suit out, you know, the one I'll only wear in private for you?" Kim made the mistake of wearing the white bikini to the lake one time. It wasn't especially skimpy, but when it got wet it was very slightly transparent if the light hit it a certain way. Their apartment complex had a hot-tub beside the main pool, and while it wasn't completely private, she would still sometimes wear when they could get it to themselves, slipping under the surface if somebody else came along. Granted, if they had an indoor Jacuzzi, she would simply forego the suit completely.

That gave her a thought. "If we aren't too covered up with work, why don't we go up to the lodge next weekend? Just a chance to get away?"

"Maybe. I was thinking more that we should really get settled into the semester first before we start making lots of plans like that. I mean, wasn't part of the point of getting our own place that we wouldn't have to spend so much time away from home?"

Kim leaned back into her seat, crossing her arms. "I guess so. It was just a thought." She sat there a few minutes, staring out the front canopy.

Realizing what he must have sounded like, Ron slipped his helmet off and unbuckled his harness. Their flight had leveled out and unless something critical happened, they wouldn't need the safety gear for at least an hour. The flyer was capable of flying at several times the speed of sound, but that used up a lot of energy, especially since they would have to use special equipment to prevent creating a sonic boom, as well as jamming both civilian and military radar. It was best if they appeared to be a simple, if strange-looking aircraft.

Reaching behind her neck, he gave her a warm kiss. She gave into it, though her concerns about his mood couldn't be washed away with a little dose of Ronshine.

Something was tickling her weirdar, and it had nothing to do with the MPG sitch.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	5. Chapter 5

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 5**

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_This would feel so much better if we were actually fighting._

Kim stared across the living room at the pale, scowling face of her former opponent. The very thought that she was sitting on a couch, in a quaint little house, looking at each other like they were about to discuss the purchase of some _Burperware_ was perhaps one of most ferociously weird sitches she had been in. To say that the tension could be cut with a knife was an understatement.

"You want to run that by me again, Princess?"

Taking a deep breath, she recounted the whole debacle in the Rockies to the woman, whose scowl grew deeper with each word. There didn't seem to be any point to keeping where it all had happened a secret, especially since Sherry had broken in there several times, though she didn't actually mention the name of the device stolen.

Sherry pursed her lips as she considered what she wanted to say. It was clear she was fighting down the urge to actually tackle the redhead and have it out right there in her sitting room, despite the fact her two-year-old was sitting on Drakken's lap, watching. Kim Possible may have helped her stay out of the law's hands, she may have helped her try to save Amethyst's father, she may have been there that day when her daughter was born, but there was a certain animus there that very little could be done to wash away.

What neither woman was quite willing to admit was that they would like to have at each other, if for no other reason than to blow off steam. That the tension was greater without them trying to kick each other's biscuits made the scene even worse.

Even though neither woman would ever truly like the other, there was a sort of understanding between them. That, and Sherry was actually honoring a truce that had been called between the two women, both by Amethyst's father and by Kim's mother. That had been the price she had to pay for Anne Possible to care for her and deliver her baby, and much as she was loath to admit it, there was a sort of kinship between the two of them.

That didn't happen to help the matter at hand. "You mean to tell me, that somebody jacks something from those fools at that lab, and the first person you come running to is me? When I've given you my word that's not going to happen again? I don't know if I should be pleased about my rep, or hacked off enough to kick you from one side of this mountain to another."

"I'd like to see you try." Kim said coldly. A large hand resting on her shoulder squeezed gently, restoring her calm.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Kimmie, but I've been right here. Only time I left the house was yesterday morning so I could go out and get some bugs in my teeth." She inclined her head toward the door. Out front there was an expensive-looking (and actually quite expensive in reality) Italian motorcycle.

"Can anyone vouch for your whereabouts?" Kim asked, grimacing at how the question sounded.

"No, unless some state trooper got on my ass I didn't know about. That's the whole point to riding my bike. I have to get away, to have some 'me' time, but I didn't steal that freaking pan-can thing again. I think I was actually in Kansas, and that's the whole other direction."

Kim nodded. "I just wanted to hear it from you myself. If it matters, I didn't believe it was you anyway. Just thought you might appreciate a heads up, though. From the way that place was wrecked, it sure looked like somebody was going out of their way to make it look like you actually did it."

"I'm touched at your concern." Sherry said dryly.

"Do you have any idea who might want to frame you for something like that? Perhaps somebody with powers similar to yours?"

Sherry glanced over at Drew. Kim caught the fact that, despite their living in the same home, be it a lair, or the little mountain cottage, for so long they still called each other by their 'professional' names. The 'reformed' mad-scientist only shrugged, going back to bouncing he toddler on his knee. Kim had to admit the sight of Drakken playing with a child he obviously had strong affection for was utterly surreal.

"Punkin, have you got all night? I know I've been off the radar for a couple years now, but it's not like the kind of enemies I've made over the years are going to forgive and forget. As far as peeps with powers like mine? Don't know, don't care. Far as I know, maybe my brothers have finally gone off the deep end and started a life of crime."

"I really don't see Hego going that way, and he's the only one with the kind of power necessary to do what we saw today."

"Sister, you don't know Herman all that well, do you? He's always been a couple Froot Loops short of a box anyway, if you know what I mean. If anything were to ever happen to his family, his wife, his kids…well, you see what happened to me. There's not much standing between being such an over-the-top hero type and getting your hands really dirty. Still, don't think it's any of them. Hasn't been that long since I talked to Mego, and he's too wrapped up in some girl, if you can believe it, to pull anything, unless she's just as evil as I am and asked him to. Then again, you said the place was ripped up real bad. If I was him, I'd just sneak in shrunk down and get out without anyone being wiser. He hasn't got the most physical power."

Kim got up to leave. "Just keep your eyes open, Sherry. I've already filed a report with Global Justice, just so they wouldn't get trigger happy and come after you anyway." She caught a slight flinch on her one-time rival's face when she said the word 'trigger.'

"You know me, Kimmie. Eyes wide. It's the only thing that's kept me alive all this time." She got up, following the couple to the door. As Ron opened it, she grabbed Kim's arm and leaned close.

"Listen, Princess." She said in a bare whisper. "Don't come around here making accusations you can't back up. Don't care how much you say you think it was somebody else, your eyes say otherwise. Don't think I couldn't kick your skinny butt without using my powers."

"Any time, Shego." Kim said with ice in her voice as she turned away, walking quickly to the flyer sitting on the front lawn.

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Kim looked over her shoulder as she gently closed the bedroom door. Ron was still at the kitchen table, his notes spread out around him as he typed on the laptop computer. Kim frowned, turning the knob so the door wouldn't click as she shut it. Crossing the room, she touched the mouse of their big main computer, bringing the screen to life. Ron had changed the wallpaper again, putting a photo of them sitting side-by-side on a beach, both sticking their tongue out at the camera. That made her smile ever so slightly, but caused a little pang because of what she was thinking.

Clicking a tiny icon at the bottom of the screen, she sent a call out to another computer terminal located in a small apartment in Durham, North Carolina. Hopefully she would be home. It might have been Saturday night, but her boyfriend was already back at his own school in Massachusetts. Still, there was always the chance she would be out with her college girlfriends. They kept in touch as much as possible, but her friend's life had gone on while she lived on the east coast going to university. Of course she would make new friends.

Her heart jumped a bit when the screen-within-a-screen winked to life. Kim picked up an earpiece and put it in her right ear, so the conversation would not play over the speakers.

The woman looking back at her from the other side of the country was the same age, only being a few months older. She hadn't changed much, except for the fact she put on the teensiest bit of weight as she crossed from her teens into her early twenties. Monique Jenkins was still on the skinny side of the scale, and Kim was close enough to her to actually mention the extra pounds looked really good on her.

"Monique, reassure me."

Monique's smile vanished almost instantly. "Oh no, you and Dude-boy NGA?"

Years of learning 'Monique-speak were finally paying off, though it took her mind a couple seconds to decipher the acronym. "Huh? Oh, not getting along? Yeah, we're fine that way, it's just…I don't know. I'm worried."

The cocoa-skinned young woman just rolled her dark eyes. "What are you worried about, that Ron's eyes are going to start wandering? Girlfriend, that boy is so tied up in knots over you it's not even funny any more."

The whole concept of Ron being unfaithful shocked her. Was that even probable? Not in the least, or at least she would like to think so. "No, I'm not worried that he'd stray, at least yet."

Monique's eyes shrank back down to normal as she leaned a little closer to the video pickup of her home computer. "Oh boy, now I think I see where this is going. You're stressing that the honeymoon might be over."

"Monique, we're not getting married until next summer." How on Earth could a honeymoon be over when it hadn't even officially started?

"Who said anything about that? For the two of you, that's just a fancy ceremony and some writing on a piece of paper. If you ask me, the two of you have been on one long continuous honeymoon for the last five years. I don't know how you've kept it up this long…er, this isn't about keeping things up, is it?" She raised one eyebrow.

"No! Ron doesn't have anything to worry about in that department. It just seems like he's just not as interested in it as before. I knew things would quiet down after the first, but actually experiencing it is a lot worse than thinking about it."

"Whoa there girl. You're not telling me that he's not meeting your needs are you? Kim, if there was anyone between the two of you I'd worry about…no, I'm not even going to go there. I don't even want to think about it."

"Well, good." Kim said, as little testily. "As for my needs being met…let's just say I have no reason to complain…most of the time."

"Uh huh. Nothing special there, Kim. There hasn't been a woman born who actually has a libido who thinks that one hundred percent of the time. So, how long has it been now?"

That question took her aback slightly. "Uh, well…last night."

"Uh huh. That's what I thought…and how long before that?"

"The night before." Kim blushed slightly

"Let me guess, you didn't the night before that?"

"Well, no."

Monique sat back and grinned, as if she had just discovered the key to the whole shoot-n-match. "Shock of shocks, you went one night without little Ron coming to play and it's a drought."

Kim realized what she had just said sounded like, so she hastily explained. "It's not like that Monique. He was with his parents in Denver that night."

"So, what you're telling me is that you and the Polish wonder-stud are knocking boots just about every night and you're worried the fire is going out?"

"If you put it that way. We like it. It makes me look forward to the end of the day just as much as the beginning." It was true. Even on their 'light' nights they likened it to a 'good-night-kiss.'

"Kim, what are you going to do when it gets to the point where he gets in bed, kisses you goodnight and goes right to sleep? Have you been doing that every night since you started?"

"Kinda. Not _every_ night, but most."

"I can see why Mr. Dr. P. finally decided to run the two of you off. Girl, I love you like a sister, but there's going to come a point when it's going to be just that. Do you think Felix and I were like that all summer? Yeah, first couple nights after he came down from Mass, we pretty much wouldn't have gotten out of bed save to go eat, but after that, it became a lot more about the two of us being together."

"I know all that, Monique, and I understand it here." She tapped her forehead, then shifted her hand to her bosom. "It's here that it hurts a little. I know I'm not supposed to feel this way and I know Ron doesn't mean it, but it still feels a little like rejection." She paused for a moment. "Just before I called you, I went into the kitchen where he's working and started rubbing his shoulders."

"Bet he liked that. I've gotten my fair share of Stoppable shoulder rubs, and turnabout being fair play…"

"You're not going to start on that time you kissed him are you?" They had long ago come to an understanding about that little faux pas, though it still rankled her sometimes when she thought about it. That, and the fact that Ron had seen Monique naked before he had seen her, although it was accidental.

"Not unless you want to. He's a damn good kisser, I bet he's good at other things too, especially if you've gotta have it every…"

"Yeah," Kim cut her off. "Not that I've got anything else to compare it to…"

"Damn. You are one lucky woman. If there's anything I actually regret it's that Felix wasn't my first."

Kim hesitated. She knew Monique was more 'experienced' than her, even before they first met, but didn't like going into that. What was past was past. "He really was enjoying it, and so was I, but then I started nuzzling his ear with the tip of my nose and he flinched away like he was irritated."

"Ouch. I can see why you're upset then. He didn't get the message?"

"I think so. It's not like we don't have almost all day tomorrow to get our work done, so I figured we could knock off early and do some cuddling…and some other things. He just muttered about getting his work done."

"What kind of work is he doing?"

"School work. That's another weird thing. He's all like he's got to knuckle-down again like he did in the eleventh grade, like none of the last five years ever happened."

"You're over-thinking it, Kim. Your classes only just started yesterday morning, so there can't be any problems yet. He's just worried that he's going to be keeping up. We're all in the home-stretch now. What you can't forget is why he started caring about schoolwork in the first place."

"He just wants to make something of himself."

"No, he wants to do good because of you. We're talking about the same boy who once told me right to my face he didn't care about his school work. He was all about sitting there and letting me do all the work on that science project. Then he hooked up with you and suddenly he cared. If he's putting his nose to the wheel, it's because he's doing it for you, way more than anything he'd want for himself."

"Gee, thanks, Moni. Now I feel like I'm some kind of sex-crazed pervert."

Monique laughed at her old BFF. "Girl, you know how I feel about your man. If I was the one lovin on him and I waited as long as the two of you did, I'd be the same way. Ease up on him a little, then, when it's time, you can knock his socks off. He wants to get his stuff done, let him. That way when the time comes his mind is on one thing…just one thing."

Kim sat back in the leather office chair, letting it tilt back slightly. It was actually set for Ron's slightly greater weight, so the springs had a tendency to snap back up a little too quickly for her liking, but if she was careful it worked just fine. He only outweighed her by about fifty pounds.

"I guess you're right. We've been pretty intense all summer, guess it's just time to get used to being in school again."

"Well, speaking of school work, I've been in class for a week and a half now and I really have some designs I've got to work on."

"Kay, Moni. When are you getting back to Middleton?"

"Really don't know, Kim. Since Dad got transferred to Minneapolis, it's kinda hard getting back there. Maybe around the holidays when Felix goes back to visit his Mom."

"Don't be a stranger when you do. We can both blow off the boys and have a girl's night out."

"You know it, girl. Love ya."

"Love you too, night Monique."

She clicked off the screen and leaned back in the chair, her arms crossed over her chest. Kim knew she really shouldn't be worrying about it, but even speaking to a woman she considered her best friend outside of Ron really didn't help as much as she would have liked. The whole conversation had made her feel slightly dirty, as if she really had no right to complain, but she just couldn't shake the notion that there might be something wrong between her and her fiancé. When Monique mentioned the honeymoon being over, it hit her harder than she let show.

When they had gotten their first, ill-fated apartment, Kim had Rabbi Katz and his wife over for a house-warming dinner. At the time, she was stressed that the clergyman would have disapproved of them 'living in sin.' Instead, he made the comment that the two of them seemed more married than most legally wedded couples were. That made her worry all-the-more that the best might be behind them, that there wasn't anything new or different to look forward to. Maybe there was something to the admonition against living together before the actual wedding.

Was it just the simple fact they had fallen into a sort of routine? Was a little 'good-night-kiss' doing them more harm than good? It never seemed like it at the time, but sitting there alone in their bedroom, with the skies outside just turning grey with dusk, it seemed ever so slightly trivial, with the possibility that their love-life might be getting boring sitting like a slow-burning ember in the back of her mind.

When the long wait finally ended the previous winter, she was surprised at the intensity of their physical relationship. It was the repeat of the beginning of their romance, when she discovered she liked making out with him. Their mutual attraction was surprisingly strong, even back then. Sometimes she likened it to being a kid in a candy shop with their parent's credit card. Then it was kissing. When they turned eighteen, it went to another level, to the point it actually caused a few problems between them.

Thinking about that, Kim tried telling herself that it was only her latent insecurity coming to the surface once more. Monique was right. Things would naturally slow down to the point where the times they were together would be something special, something to be treasured. There was no sense in beating herself up about something that was considered normal.

Looking out her bedroom window, she noticed it was no longer dusk, but well into the evening. It was getting dark earlier, and a front had rolled in late in the afternoon, making the light fade even quicker. By morning it would most likely be raining. Still, it was Saturday night, and even if things were going to slow, even just a bit, that was still their 'date night.'

Staring at the closed door for a moment, she got up and slipped out of the purple top and white shorts she had changed into after they returned from their mission. The thought that there was somebody out there in possession of a device that could possibly endanger the world was still strong in her mind, but her professionalism told her that until they had a solid lead, there was literally nothing they could do about it. It would do no good for them to simply be out, patrolling the entire world, not knowing even where to begin. All she could so was to keep her Kimmunicator handy, so Wade could reach her at any time. Then she would spring into action and bring the thief to justice.

Kim picked out a silk nightie from her collection. It was a shimmering, satiny black, clinging to her body at every curve. It covered everything completely, but hinted at what was beyond the thin material. She had bought it when they leased their first apartment, to celebrate their first 'official' night of living together. It always seemed to have a certain effect on Ron, like a night-time version of that little black dress she loved to wear for him.

She reclined on the bed, partially on her side so as to accentuate the curve of her hip. There were two choices. One, she could simply wait there for Ron to come to bed, or she could go to the kitchen and show him that it was time to put away his books and pay her some attention. Kim even considered lighting a few candles around the bedroom.

Her eyes snapped open when she realized Ron had come into the room. The light on the desk was still on, but the rest of the lights in the apartment were off. Immediately she realized she had dozed off while she waited.

Without a word, he went into the bathroom. Minutes later, he emerged in his boxers, his teeth freshly brushed. Pulling the covers back, he slipped into the bed and reached for her. Kim closed her eyes, waiting for him to pull her to him, to wrap herself around him in an embrace that could last all night. She gave herself into the kiss as their lips met.

Then he simply rolled away from her and switched off the light. She could feel movement on her pillow as another member of their little family curled up above her head, intent on sleep.

Kim spent a couple hours staring at the ceiling as Ron softly snored beside her.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	6. Chapter 6

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 6**

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By the end of the weekend, Kim was finally able to convince herself she was just imagining things. As usual, she was awake at about six in the morning, so she went into the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on. She gasped when she saw the amount of work still spread out on the table. She had a few small assignments that had been handed out, but it was the first day. Teachers were supposed to be handing out syllabi, not burying their students under a mountain of work. She opened up the laptop and checked his general writing file. They shared the computers, so she wasn't invading his privacy, especially since he often asked her to check his work for mistakes both he and the spell-check had missed.

There were two relatively large new files. He actually had been quite busy, possibly working straight through until he finished and it was likely all he had to do was hook the portable up to the printer to make his hard copies.

She felt so stupid for imagining that something was wrong between the two of them. When Ron was up late writing it always made him drowsy, all the more so when he tried to do it without his reading glasses. His astigmatism had finally gotten to the point where he needed corrective lenses sometimes, but he was fighting it tooth and nail. Wisely, Kim decided to forego telling him it was likely the next time he had his driver's license renewed he would be required to wear them.

Telling him he looked cute in glasses actually backfired. To him it was a sign he was getting old, already past his prime at twenty-one. Kim simply rolled her eyes in exasperation, telling him he would only make things worse by straining to see without them. It was apparent he was going to be a hard-headed mule about the subject, so she changed tactics and let it drop. If things got bad enough, he would change his tune.

Kim wondered about the amount of work Ron had. It was almost like he managed to pull another class with Steve Barkin, but since he was only a part-time associate professor, in addition to being an assistant principal at the high school, he only taught freshman courses. Apparently there were other professors who believed their students not only didn't have a life, but didn't have any other classes to deal with in their free time.

It was obvious Ron hadn't come to bed ignoring her, he came to bed exhausted, albeit mentally. She glanced in the direction of the bedroom, but decided to let him sleep a little longer. Before long they would have to get ready if they were going to make the early services at her church.

Later that afternoon, with everything possible done, they snuggled up on their couch and watched a DVD they rented. The movie was a 'hard-R,' basically bordering on NC-17 and they both responded quite favorably to the love scenes, to the point they didn't even make it out of their den, at least at first.

The week that followed made it quite clear to Kim that she had gotten a touch lazy over the summer. If she thought Ron was buried under a ton of work, she was having a mountain poured onto her. Kim started wondering if it really was wise to cram so many course hours into her final year. She was going to be taking graduate courses after they finished anyway, so what would be he difference in her taking the four and a half to five years it normally took to get her particular degree?

No, graduating with Ron was just as important in college as it was in High School. He really busted his butt to get to that point and even if she was still going to practically be a full-time student for years to come, they would get their diplomas together, come hell or high water.

The downside of all that work is she found herself coming to bed late, giving him a kiss and falling right to sleep. Part of her mind was saying turnabout was fair play, the other was upset that he was the one disappointed. It was still odd to feel better about their relationship simply because it was obvious that life was getting in the way of their romance.

It seemed something of a miracle when she realized after she left her last class that Friday afternoon that she was actually caught up. There were a couple projects in their first stages, but they could easily wait until the next week to return to. She had been in such a frenzy all week trying to keep her head above water, it was almost strange to actually have some time to herself.

She sat down on a low brick wall in the quad, waiting for Ron. It had been a long week and she fervently hoped he was just as caught up as she was. There was something she wanted to do, something just slightly off-the-wall. It wasn't dirty, or at least no more so than anything else they did in the privacy of their own home. Sassy would be a better word for it. Nothing wrong with having some fun to go along with the…fun. There were most def benefits to having their own place.

While she waited, she indulged in a little bit of people-watching. There was a time in the past when she wouldn't have thought she had time for such, but Ron had taught her there really was such a thing as over-doing it. If a single mission could torch her 'sched,' then she was really courting disaster. By the same token, she taught him to be more involved. It was meeting in the middle that both of them found the most happiness. Kim learned to stop and smell the roses while Ron learned to feel good about himself by serving.

The nice thing about people-watching was that she could enjoy some of the nicer 'sights.' There was no doubt in her mind that Ron was "the One," but that didn't stop her from noticing hot looking guys. For a time, she felt a little ashamed to actually notice other guys, since that had actually gotten her in a bit of trouble once before, but over time she began to accept there was a difference between noticing and acting. It was like owning your dream car, but appreciating the other models that had been passed over.

One guy in particular caught her eye that afternoon. He was roughly six feet tall, with dark brown hair cut short and slicked back, all except for a slightly lighter tuft in the front. Even from a fair distance she could tell he had piercing blue eyes. He had a sort of European air to him, much like Señor Senior Junior, but he was somewhat more average looking, in a pleasant sort of way. One thing that struck her as kind of odd was the fact he had earrings on both ears. Back in high school, that would have been a cardinal offense within the 'food chain.' It held a particular meaning that most of the guys didn't want anything to do with. When Ron pointed out that sounded suspiciously like a 'rule,' Kim finally had to admit he was right.

Three years of college behind her, she had come to recognize that those rules really didn't apply. He might be completely straight, though that really didn't matter to her. For the moment, all he represented was a pretty face, a minor distraction for her as she whiled away the time until Ron got clear of his last class of the day. She was so caught up trying to figure the man and his jewelry she didn't realize he had looked up. Not until their eyes met.

Kim looked away, blushing when he smiled at her. She felt caught, and just slightly dirty. To make matters worse, a large, warm hand snaked around her back, gripping her side.

"Earth to KP?" Ron said, giving her small waist a good squeeze.

Trying to wish the pink tint in her cheeks away, she touched her nose to his. "Hey you."

"What you so wrapped up in?"

Her mouth popped open slightly. "Oh, just people watching." She looked up again, but the man with the earrings was nowhere in sight. She shook her head to clear the image.

It helped that Ron was there. The plans for the afternoon and evening rushed back into her mind.

"So, got much to do? We going to have a repeat of last weekend?"

"Only if we get the call that Wade's found something on that Miles Per Gallon thing."

"Miles per…Oh, you mean the MPG. It stands for Multi-Phasic Portal Generator, not miles-per-gallon."

Ron shrugged. "Helps me remember the initials. Not like I'm gonna remember multi-fading portable something-or-other."

"So you're saying you don't have homework?"

He cocked his head to one side. "Didn't say that, just don't have a big paper to write cold like I did last week. I was just figuring I could do what little I've got Sunday night and we could blow off this place and head out of town."

"I thought you didn't want to get away." Kim smiled sideways at him.

"I kinda figured I owed you something, especially since I screwed up so bad last week."

"Huh? How did you screw up."

"Oh, come on, KP. You were completely tweaked by the fact I fell asleep Saturday night."

"I wasn't tweaked."

"Yeah, you were. When you woke me up the next morning and I saw what you had on…Kim, you don't usually sleep in that all night."

"Okay, well, I was a little put off, but it's not like you didn't have a good reason. Come on, let's walk home." She got up, holding his hand as they walked toward their apartment.

"What do you think about heading up to the lodge? Or we could make it to Durango by dark."

Kim rolled her eyes heavenward. They had been to Durango just over a month ago for Ron's birthday, though the trip got a little strange with her cousin Joss along. The seventeen year-old had almost gotten an eyeful that morning when they thought she was sound asleep. Kim still couldn't believe she had actually done that. It wasn't like she could stay quiet if they accomplished what they were trying.

"I think we should do just what you said, and stay home this weekend." Kim said playfully.

"Yeah, but we might not get the chance to get away so easily as the semester goes on."

Kim stopped and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling his face close to hers. "Ronnie, it takes more than an hour to get to the lodge, it takes two hours to get to Durango. It only takes five minutes to get to our apartment, if you see where I'm going." To emphasize her point, she licked the tip of his nose and gave him a quick kiss.

"Eep." Was all he could get out.

As it was, he almost broke out into a run getting back to their home. Kim would have been close on his heels if he had. They not so much as got their door closed before she grabbed him, pushing her body tightly against his, leaning against the inside of the door as she hungrily kissed him, her tongue dancing against his. Her hips pressed up against his, grinding slightly as she unbuttoned his blue bowling shirt.

Separating herself from him, she put her fingers in the band of his pants and started pulling him toward their room. He glanced at the couch, but she shook her head, grinning. "That's fine when it a spur-of-the-moment thing. I want the whole deal, and that means the bedroom."

They repeated their performance with the door once they were in the room. Rufus took one look at them from his perch on Kim's pillows and scampered right off the bed, squeezing his way under the door to get away from the amorous couple.

His shirt already hanging open, Ron started fumbling with the buttons of Kim's blouse. Giving up after a couple moments, his large fingers dropped to the hem of her skirt.

"Oh no. Slow it down there baby." Kim leaned into him again, mashing her chest against his. Wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders, she pulled him in for a long, drawn-out kiss. Without their lips breaking contact, she steered him toward the bed, pushing him down on the unmade mess. They both had early classes that day, but even when they didn't, they were both incredibly lazy about making up a bed only the two of them and Rufus would see, and would be getting right back into by evening, or, in that case, by late afternoon.

Not bothering with the buttons, Kim pulled her blouse up over her head. Ron started reaching for her fancy satin bra, one of the kind sold by _Alexandria's Confession_ to make more modestly built women like herself look their best, but she simply grabbed both his hands, twining her fingers with his and forcing his arms to the sides of his head.

She kissed him hungrily again, then started working her way down his neck, into the middle of his chest. Kim looked up into his eyes, and could tell he was expecting her to go a little further.

Sitting back up, she let go of his hands and gave his belt a playful tug. "I think that's enough of that for the moment."

"Aw, come on, KP. You can't get me all warmed up like that."

"Oh, I'm not done, not by a long-shot. I just think I'm a bit…overdressed."

He reached for the bottom of her skirt again, only to have his fingers lightly batted away. "Hey, if you think you've got too much on…"

Kim slid off of him and walked toward the closet, exaggerating the swing of her hips. "How does that line go? I need to slip into something more comfortable? I think you need to do the same as well."

"I can think of something comfortable I'd like to…"

"Uh, uh, uh, dirty boy. I was talking about the sheets." She smiled wickedly as she closed the walk-in closet's door behind her.

Ron wasted little time shucking the rest of his clothes and climbing into the bed, after straightening out the covers and tucking the end back in. He looked back at the closet door. What on Earth was she up to? Normally, if she was getting ready, she would go into the bathroom and change into some of her sexy negligee. His favorites actually were her opaque silk nighties, though she did have some tiny little lacy numbers that would drive him wild, as well as a whisper-sheer set that would barely qualify as there. Cupping his hand over his mouth, he checked his breath. For good measure, he reached into the drawer of his nightstand and tossed a couple strong mints from a metal tin into his mouth, crunching them up quickly. Kim might have been kissing him already, but he had a Philly-style sandwich at his friend Paul's deli for lunch and she appreciated when he did something about the onions. She seemed to have been past caring what his breath was like at the moment, but that didn't stop him from trying.

He looked at the door again. Having a walk-in closet was really spoiling them. All of their clothes were in there, saving space in their room for their large desk, instead of having to have chests-of-drawers. The other nice thing was that it was a small room in its own right. The first week they were in the new apartment, they set out to 'christening' every room. Neither of them knew where they got the notion from, but it seemed appropriate for some odd reason. The closet was especially fun. Kim sat on the small counter in there, wearing just one of his old jerseys. The experience was akin to some of their attempts in her car, or like they were trying to get away with something in the janitor's closet back in high-school. There was just a twinge of regret they never actually tried making out there, but by the time they were together, the school really started cracking down on its anti-PDA policies.

That didn't stop them from fantasizing a little as they made love in the tiny room.

What on Earth was Kim doing in there?

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Kim jumped around slightly, trying to get the zipper up in the back. The first time she wore that particular article of clothing, she had her mother come upstairs and zip it for her. The zipper really didn't make all that much sense anyway. The fabric was slightly stretchy, meant to cling to her curves, accentuating each one. If it weren't for the zipper, she could wriggle into it anyway.

Maybe. She had to admit that, in the intervening years from sixteen, she had grown, just a little. She would most likely always be considered petite, but her hips were ever so slightly wider than they had been then, and her bosom just a tad fuller. That made her outfit slightly tighter, making her thankful the fabric was pliable.

The dress was, as fashion went, starting to get a little old. Then again, it was so simple that it was difficult for it to actually go out of style. There was just something about a little-black-dress that was quite honestly timeless.

She hoped the dress would last. It wasn't like she wore it constantly, though it had survived chasing Ron all over downtown, it survived an ill-advised winter date that found her stranded in a dead mini-van, it even her playing waitress at the following year's Middleton Days Festival, while Ron played chef, earning the money they needed for the prom and securing his place in the culinary arts program at Middleton College.

There certainly were lots of good memories associated with that dress. Good enough they blotted out the bad. That incident with the moodulators she now thought of as the reason they had their first real kiss. It was also the turning point that set the stage for them to finally get together. All of those memories were good, but there was one thing that had not yet happened with that dress. It almost had on a couple occasions, but that was before what they dubbed the 'interuptus' curse had been broken.

With a soft growl, Kim gave up on the zipper. There was only one reason for the thing to be there, in her mind. It made it easier for somebody else to take it off. Muttering slightly, she zipped it completely up, then started shimmying into it. That turned out to be harder than she thought, but she finally got into it.

She turned and looked in her oval dressing mirror. Again she thought of the history some of her things had. It took until they had been together for quite a while, but Ron finally admitted he did spend a little bit of time looking at her body when his brain was in it. It was in that very mirror he first saw her that way, not counting accidents before puberty. He didn't do anything else, just looked. Of course, back then he probably would have looked if it had been any one of the cheerleading squad. Kim might have been his first choice, but that path seemed barred to him, for a number of reasons at the time.

Kim considered a pair of hose with it, but decided against them. Her tan was just starting to fade, but it was one of the best she had in her life after many trips out to the lake with Ron, plus she had shaved her legs the night before so it was time to show them off. She looked one more time in the mirror, quickly running her fingers through her hair, fluffing it slightly. It had been cut back to its old length about a month earlier, so she looked almost the same as she had that day in the early spring of 05.

A smile spread across her face as she grabbed the doorknob. There was one bad moment, thinking Ron might spoil the moment with some silly joke about coming out of the closet, but she let it pass.

"Hello, baby." She stepped out into the open, striking a seductive pose in front of their bed.

Ron's reaction was much the same as it was five years earlier, only then he wasn't in bed, waiting for her. Kim crawled across the end of the bed toward him, pushing his chin closed so she could kiss him properly.

"Whoa, if I knew you wanted to dress up to go out…"

"Not going out anywhere." She straddled him on top of the covers, kissing him again. Of their own volition, his hands found their way to her backside, then trailed up the center of her back to the top of the zipper that had previously given her so much trouble.

"No, leave it on for the time being." She leaned back, pulling the covers down slightly, before sliding off to the side so she could get them out of the way completely. Her grin got even wider as she resumed her position.

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Not long afterward, Rufus was stirred from his slumber on a throw pillow that had been knocked off their futon couch. He shook his tiny head, wishing his humans would calm down so he could sleep with them as he preferred.

Still, he was happy when they were happy, and one of them shouting "Booyah!" while the other proved she still could hit that high note was proof enough they were happy.

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Kim's eyes fluttered open. The room was dark, save for a single candle that had not yet burned down. It actually wasn't very late, only about eleven, but they had been in bed since that afternoon. Smiling softly, she snuggled down into her lovers sleeping arms. The black dress, having done its duty once more, was sitting in a pile on the floor with the rest of Ron's clothes.

The smile faded slowly as she again wondered what had preoccupied Ron so the week before. She knew him too well, and there weren't supposed to be secrets between them. Yet, for some reason she could not bring herself to simply ask him point-blank. She was supposed to trust him, and if he had to keep something to himself, he must have a very good reason.

Ron stirred slightly in his sleep, and she rolled in place, facing him. Not quite fully waking, he pulled her closer, so she obliged, wrapping her leg around his and letting herself drift into a satisfied slumber, the questions forced once more to the back of her mind.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	7. Chapter 7

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 7**

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"Mom? What's all this?"

Kim sat down in the center of the couch, looking at all the glossy magazines and books spread out on the coffee table. It surprised her to see anything of the sort out. Her mother wasn't prone to sitting and reading periodicals unless they were medical journals. When did she have time, between her career as the head of neurosurgery at Middleton Medical Center and pretty much keeping a home up by herself? Both her brothers and herself stayed so busy with schoolwork and extra-currics they really never had too much time to help with the house. It was a standing family joke that Kim really could do anything, except pick up her room.

Her eyes got big as she picked up the nearest magazine. _Twenty-First Century Bride_ featured a young blonde on its cover, dressed in an elaborate wedding dress with a train that would have put Amtrak to shame. Putting it back down, she checked the other periodicals spread out on the twin-tiered table. They all had the same overall theme, with names like _Midwestern Wedding_ or _Modern Nuptials_.

Anne Possible came back into the den, drying her hands after putting the lunch dishes away. Kim had a break in the middle of her day, while Ron still had classes, so she called her daughter to come eat with her that afternoon on her rare weekday off.

"Just some things I'm looking at."

"Mom! The wedding is still almost ten months away. Aren't you going a little overboard?"

"Overboard? Oh, come on, Kimmie. Ten months really isn't that long. What were you going to do? Wait until graduation day? That will leave you with exactly one month to get ready."

"Sounds like plenty of time to me. Do you have any idea how much work I'm going to be doing that last semester?"

"Oh dear me, I guess it was nothing like medical school." Anne smiled at her daughter, sitting down in the chair off the end of the table. "Really, if I know you, you'll want everything planned out to the tiniest detail."

"I'm so not going to be that way. All I really want is a simply little wedding. Really, it's no big."

"Yes it is a big, sweetheart. There's much more to do than just simply showing up at the church or Ron's synagogue…um, which one is it going to be anyway?"

"We haven't really talked about it all that much yet. We've been sort of busy, what with the new apartment, and school starting up."

Anne just went on. "There's your dress to consider, caterers, flowers, invitations."

"Uch. Really, Mom, you make it sound like such a big production. I was just thinking of inviting both fams and a few friends. Then we can have the ceremony and that's it."

"You really think it's going to be that simple? Kimmie, you're a public figure."

"Oh, don't remind me. If I see another story in those tabloids about me living with some pretty-boy movie star I'm going to hurl."

"That's not what I'm talking about. Look here." She sifted through a couple magazines until she came to one. "There has been much speculation about the nuptials or femme-fatale Kim Possible to her long-time boyfriend and partner Ron Stoppable. Some have speculated the two of them will finally tie the know after college, but the couple have been keeping their plans under wraps." She closed the book and handed it to her daughter. "I haven't been able to find it this morning, but there's another one with an artist's concept of what your dress might look like. I bet you don't even know yet, do you?"

"I really haven't thought about it, at least as far as putting it on paper or anything. I've got a general idea of what I want in my mind. Simple, elegant, white."

Anne's eyebrow shot up slightly. Kim caught the look and scowled at her mother. "Yes, I'm going to wear white."

"I didn't say anything. I wore white at my wedding, and that was twenty-three years ago."

"Of course you wore…" What her mother said finally sunk in. "Oh, Mom! TMI."

"All I'm saying, Kimmie, is that people are going to expect something big, something grand."

"It's my wedding." Kim pouted. "Aren't I supposed to get what I want? The way you make it sound, I'm starting to think we'd be better off just heading to the county courthouse and eloping."

"Really, Kim, would you actually think of doing that to Ron?"

"Doing what? He's as ready to be married as I am. If it wasn't for these last two semesters, we'd probably have headed off to Vegas and tied the knot already."

Anne leaned forward , putting her elbow on her knee and looking at her daughter through hooded eyes. "Do you remember what you said to me on the phone when we were talking about your Junior Prom?"

"Uch. Don't remind me. That almost turned out to be one of he biggest mistakes of my life."

"That's not what I'm talking about. You said you wanted to make a statement."

"I'm not about making statements any more, Mom. I love Ron and that's all that matters."

"That is what I am getting at. You have fans out there, and if you have a big, elaborate wedding with all the trimming, that's going to make a huge statement about how you feel about him. Maybe that will go a long way to shutting those tabloids up too."

"Maybe. It just feels like it's so far away right now. It's still technically summer for a few more days, and the wedding's in the middle of summer next year."

"The Fourth of July is not exactly the middle. Besides, after graduation I'm sure the two of you are going to go on vacation together."

"Actually, we were going to save that for the honeymoon."

"At least you save something."

"Mom! You're the one who was always pushing us together, you're the one who was happiest when Ron and I started… you know."

"I was and I am. It's just…I wasn't really expecting you to move out just yet. Do you know how angry I was with your father when I found out he suggested you do it?"

"You were…huh?"

Anne took a deep breath before going on. "I used to think I would be the one who would finally give you a little push out of the nest. Now it's funny that I regret you leaving. No, I never had a problem with you and Ron taking things more physical. Honestly, I thought the two of you waited plenty long enough, but I miss having a daughter. I love your brothers, but…they're boys. It's totally different, and since they're twins, they're closer to each other than they are with anybody else, and that includes you, your father and I, even their respective girlfriends."

"Mom, it's not like you've lost me. We only live across town, and when our permanent home is ready, it's only 5 minutes away."

"I know. Still doesn't change the way I feel. Anyway, why don't you look at a few of these things, maybe some dress patterns. That way, once next summer gets here, all you'll have to worry about is getting to the church on time and keeping Ronald from seeing you before the ceremony. That's not going to happen if you spend the entire month of June worried about whether the invitations will be ready in time to send out, or if your dress is going to be back from the cleaners, what your bridesmaids will be wearing. Have you even given any thought to who your bridesmaids will be?"

"Oh, Monique is going to be Maid-of-Honor. That goes without saying. I think I'll have to include Joss." She nodded toward the hallway leading to the guest room. Her younger cousin was still at school that afternoon, herself a senior, though just in High School.

"You'll need at least three."

"Let me think about it. Okay, so you've got me started on this, it doesn't mean we have to plan out every single detail today."

Anne got a little evil gleam in her eye. "You could always ask your old friend Bonnie. Didn't the two of you bury the hatchet a while back?"

"Eck. So not. Calling it quits with the rivalry was one thing, but having Bonnie in my wedding? Like that's ever going to happen. That's about as likely as Shego marrying Doctor Drakken."

"Stranger things have been known to happen. Like Shego coming to me for help because she had this odd notion she could trust me."

"Never said she wasn't smart. She was just playing off the way we think, about the way we feel about honor and integrity. She used that to her own ends. She trusted you because she knows we're not like her."

"Enough about Miss Godfrey. So, a white dress, huh? You know who is going to flip when she hears about that."

"Nana? Mom, she's old fashioned, but I think she knows about Ron and me. She might have made us sleep in separate beds the last time we were down there, but she knows we're living together. Nobody in their right mind is buying that bit about us having our own rooms."

"I think your father likes to pretend that you do…sometimes, but I'm not referring to Nana."

"Oh no, not…"

"Yes. Aunt June."

"Mom, she's just freaked that Larry still doesn't have a girlfriend. As if."

"June was old fashioned about things long before Larry was even born. She gave me no end of grief when she found out your father and I were…"

"Whoa, TMI-land again there Mom. The fact the Tweebs and me were born is enough evidence I ever needed that you two…" She shuddered slightly.

"Well, you did notice that she hasn't exactly spoken to you and Ron very much, especially since the two of you started going on trips together…non-mission trips."

"I thought that had more to do with Larry still not forgiving me for getting him kicked out of the Robot Tumble, or whatever that silliness was called."

"Anyway, whether we like it or not, she's going to be involved. There hasn't been a wedding in this family she didn't stick her nose into. Her and your Granny Credible."

Kim started wondering if going perfectly nuts over a wedding might actually be a family trait shared by all the Credibles. Her Mom, her sister June, her mother…

She sat back on the couch and covered her forehead. "I just realized we're going to have to invite Ron's family too."

"Well, of course they're going to be invited. I know his cousin Shawn can be a little monster…"

"No, I'm not talking about him. He's still just as evil, but at least he's learned how to control himself." Kim grimaced again. Shawn had gone from an out-and-out, in your face evil seven to a devious, secretive evil twelve. She wasn't sure which one was more dangerous. That paled when she thought about the others. "I was actually talking about Ron's great aunts."

Anne frowned deeply. She had never met the two women. In fact, she had only met Ron's grandmother, Gram Rokowski, on one occasion. Still, she remembered quite well her daughter's tale of the two matriarchs deriding her, and basically declaring her unfit to marry Ron, simply because she one, wasn't Jewish, and two, had a mind of her own. It still made both women angry that two people, who really didn't have any part in Ron's life anyway, thought they could hold so much sway over him.

The problem was, no matter what bad blood existed in the family, Ron's parents were likely, perhaps even duty-bound, to invite the two harpies. Both of them could only imagine how the two would react to their grand-nephew not only getting ready to marry a goyim, but living with him as well.

"Do you think they would actually show up? If they disapprove so much…"

"I don't like tempting luck that way. I can't count how many times Ron and I wanted to…then something happened…" She blushed crimson, realizing what she had just said. Their waiting until they were twenty wasn't totally on purpose. "Look, uh, Mom, I have a three-o'clock class, I'd better be getting back to campus.

"It's only one-thirty, dear. Why don't you take a look at some more of these? I've picked out some lovely patterns for the invitations, and the reception place-markers."

"Really, Mom, one thing at a time. Besides, I don't want to do too much of this without Ron."

"Ron can't help you pick out your wedding dress. That has to be totally up to you. He can't even see it until the ceremony."

Kim put her hands up. "Okay, that's it. I get it, I can't wait all the way until next June to start planning this, but it's freaking September. Maybe after the holidays I'll think about this. Yes, you're right, a big, lavish wedding would look real nice, but I don't want to put on some big media spectacle either. I'm not in the limelight as much as I used to, and that suits me just fine. There's going to come a day when I won't be doing the hero thing any more and I'm going to want to simply be left alone to raise a family." She shut up the moment that slipped past her lips. There was nothing Anne Possible would like better than to be a grandmother, especially if she could be one before she turned fifty.

That was so not going to happen. Kim had made mistakes with her meds before, but ever since they had taken their relationship to the next level, she took them religiously. There wasn't going to be a 'happy accident.' The last thing she wanted was to have her wedding dress let out at the last moment because they had gotten ahead of themselves _that_ way. Then she really would want it to be a private little ceremony. The tabloid press would have a field day with her getting married pregnant. She knew her star was fading slightly, but she certainly didn't want to hold onto her notoriety that way.

"Look, Mom, why don't you thin out the herd, as it were, and I'll take a look. Right now I've got bigger things to worry about, like who stole the MPG and getting a preliminary draft of my thesis ready, stuff like that."

"Okay, dear. Don't you worry about a thing, I'll handle it all."

Kim nodded as she picked up her purse to go. It wasn't until she was halfway back to campus before she realized what had just happened.

Her mother was good. Too good. She knew she would be satisfied with having a small, private ceremony with just the two immediate families in attendance. That was who and what was important to her. Yet her mother was the one wanting the big wedding. The whole lunch-date, the magazines on the table, the discussion.

Kim had been played. Now she had given her mother consent to basically take over the plans for the wedding. She had as much as ceded total control to her.

She banged her head lightly on her steering wheel as she waited for the light to change.

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Gene smiled as he tumbled around on the floor with his daughter. It was amazing how much she looked like her brother, despite the eighteen year gap in their ages. She had the same rounded features, the same hair, the same eyes. They even had virtually the same pattern of freckles, though Catherine's were not as dark, and there seemed to be more of them splattered across the bridge of her nose.

It was good he was able to work at home as much as he was. That gave him so much more time to be with her. When Ron was born, he was working full time, as was Jean. He ended up spending most of his time staying with his grandmother while they still lived in Denver. Then they moved to Middleton and he met Kim. That his son would have led a very lonely existence as a small child without the Possibles was one of his biggest regrets.

When he was younger, he would never have believed he would have a three year-old daughter at the age of fifty-five. Even though they still tried, he had long ago given up hope that they would actually have a second child. Jean didn't want to adopt, so they just kept on until the little tow-hair miracle came. It didn't matter he was going to be seventy when she finished school, and possibly pushing eighty when she got married. She was his daughter and he was going to be the father to her he should have been to Ron. At least life was treating him to that for a change.

Catherine squealed with delight as she rode on his shoulders while he crawled around the living room on all fours. She did the same thing with Ron that night in the hotel a couple weeks earlier. He called his little sister CJ, pretty much in keeping with his habit of calling people by their initials, something he first did with his now-fiancé Kim. He really hoped the two of them would remain close, despite the huge gap in their ages.

That made him think about something Jean had asked Kim, back when she first found out she was going to have Catherine. The kids were just seventeen at the time, but it was clear even then that they were together for the long haul.

It seemed so unfair to ask them that, but Jean was forty-eight at the time herself. She thought it wise to have a back-up plan, so they pretty much named the kids Catherine's god-parents. They quickly and happily agreed, though they might not have known quite what it was they were agreeing to at the time. Caring for an infant or toddler full-time was completely different than babysitting.

Ah, Jean worried too much. Fifty was the new forty anyway. He was still a young man…most of the time.

He shook his head when he heard the phone start going off. It wasn't the family phone in the kitchen, but his business line up in his office. He was technically 'at work,' so he would have to get it. He might have been a supervisor, but he still had other bosses he reported to. Grumbling, he set Catherine down on the floor, promising the whining toddler he would be right back.

The phone already hit its fourth ring, so he sprinted up the stairs. He was just reaching for the receiver when the pain started. It was like when he was cutting the yard, but stronger. There was the same tightness, but this time is was actually a sharp pain, like you would get if you went swimming too soon after eating.

"Hello? Oh, Roger, yeah. I've already uploaded those reports onto the mainframe. They should be showing as soon as the server clears…great…listen, let me call you back in a few, okay?"

He put the phone down, rubbing his chest. It had been a while since he had lunch, and that was nothing more than a simple roast beef sandwich. He even behaved himself, using mustard instead of fatty mayonnaise. There wasn't enough there to give him heartburn, or even the cramps he was feeling. He sat down hard in his office chair. That seemed to help, though the pressure didn't seem to be going away as quickly as he would have liked.

"Maybe I am getting older." He muttered. He sat back in the leather chair, closing his eyes for a moment, just in time to hear a crash downstairs.

The pain forgotten for a moment, he rushed back down to his child, who was wailing at the top of her lungs, generating far more volume than a person that size seemed to have a right to.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	8. Chapter 8

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 8**

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"Go Wade." Kim rubbed here eyes with her free hand, realizing just how drowsy she was as the Kimmunicator on her wrist beeped to life.

"I think I've finally got something on our thief. Are you okay, Kim?"

"Fine." She half spoke, half yawned. "I've just been sitting here at this table studying for the last three hours, that's all. I need to put on a pot of coffee and I need to get one of those ring shaped pillows cause my tailbone is aching, but other than that, I'm spankin."

"Good to hear, though I can tell you from experience, all night cram-a-thons do more harm than good."

"I know. The test isn't until Friday, I wanted to get through the material now, digest it for a bit, then just do some light review. So, Whatcha got?"

"Remember the security footage?"

"Yeah? Find something by digitally enhancing it?"

"Nope. I tried everything I know, even brought in a colleague of mine who specializes in high-def video. There isn't anything to be found on that footage. I'm more convinced than ever that it hasn't been tampered with."

"Okay, that's extra-freaky. You said you had something, though."

"I do. Whoever hit that lab must have done something to defeat the security recordings."

"I got that part, though you just finished saying the video wasn't doctored."

"It wasn't. That doesn't mean they didn't find another way to defeat it. I haven't got a clue what that is yet, but I'm still working on it. In the mean time, I have found this."

Instead of relying on the tiny holographic projector on her Kimmunicator, Wade opened a new window on her laptop, taking control of it through the same satellite signal that her omni-communications device operated on. The image was in black and white, and rather grainy, but there was a clear picture of a figure. What was also clear was that it was a woman.

"How did you get that?"

Wade blew on his fingernails and buffed them on his shirt. "Turns out the security cameras weren't the only thing recording that night. The lab had a number of experiments running, some of which had their own dedicated visual recorders. It just dawned on me today, so I tapped into those systems. There was over a hundred hours of video there, but I used a special visual recognition algorithm and I came up with that."

"Not much to go on there. So you got that one frame out of all that vid?"

"Afraid so."

Kim leaned closer to her computer, using her mini-mouse to enlarge the window. "Definitely a woman."

"Or a girl. Based on comparisons to known objects, I would estimate she's about five-foot-three, maybe shorter, and between ninety to one hundred pounds, depending on muscle mass, which is impossible to tell in the picture."

"Does rule out Shego, though I didn't think it was her from the get-go. Something about her looks awfully familiar." The figure was wearing a dark-colored, form-fitting outfit, complete with a hooded mask. "Don't know why, but somehow just from this pic I get the impression it's a grown woman. A very petite grown woman."

"Why do you say that, Kim?"

"Don't know, just an impression. What exactly is she doing, anyway?"

"That's the really interesting part. Since I know which recording system the image came from, I know exactly where she was. That's a master control computer terminal she's working at. I got in and checked the keystroke-capture system. She was entering a number of security protocols, trying to override the locking mechanism of the vault. Apparently that didn't work, and she resorted to more drastic means of getting in."

"Hmmm. This is starting to look like an inside job." Foregoing the coffee, Kim opened the refrigerator and opened an energy drink, he studies momentarily forgotten.

"I don't think so. She was getting the computer to give her the codes as she typed. It's like she was hacking the system by the seat of her pants. Whoever she is, she's good, but she didn't know the codes until she was there."

Ron wandered into the kitchen barefoot, heading straight for the fridge himself. Rufus sat on his shoulder, expecting a snack as well. He looked over his shoulder as he got his own heavily caffeinated drink and a plate bearing half of a tuna-salad sandwich. "Hey, been a while since we saw her." He said cheerfully, sticking the sandwich into his mouth so he could open the can.

"What are you talking about, Ron?" Kim asked, leaning over the back of the chair to look at her fiancé.

"That's an old shot of that girl…what's-her-name? Remember, our senior year? Danielle or something."

"Whoa!" Kim's eyes shot back to the screen, studying it closely once more. "You mean Danika Foster? No, it couldn't be."

Ron pulled one of the kitchen chairs out and sat down beside Kim, putting his sandwich down so he could look himself. "Yeah, that was her name. Remember, the one who stole one of your Mark II battle suits?"

"Yeah, but this isn't her, it's a shot of whoever broke in and stole the MPG several weeks ago. The suit she had was destroyed in Mexico City over three years ago. There's no way that could be her."

"Hmmm." Wade started typing furiously. "She does have the computer skills to do that, and she fits the physical description as well."

"But the suit…how would she have gotten another suit."

"Well…" Wade trailed off, looking away from his keyboard.

"Wade? What aren't you telling me?" Kim held the pickup of her Kimmunicator closer to her face, scowling at the hulking teen.

"You're right about the suit. GJ still has it in their evidence vault, since it really wasn't worth repairing considering the damage it took during the fight with Triple-S."

Kim's eyes narrowed. "But?"

"But who's to say she didn't make another one. She made some really interesting modifications to the original. If she got her hands on some more of that material… Then again, she wouldn't need the special capabilities to break into there if she was able to bypass the security. I only got onto her the first time because of a single mistake in her coding. If she's been practicing ever since then…"

"What have you got on her now?"

"Hang on…Got it. She's currently enrolled in an advanced cyber-robotics course at North Carolina State University, though I've got her permanent address listed as Altoona, Pennsylvania."

Kim's scowl deepened even further. Somebody had stolen her suit during the annual school-sponsored trip to Mount Middleton Ski Lodge. Apparently the young blonde wasn't the one who actually took it at first, instead insisting she found it stuffed into her belongings. In the months that followed she used it to set herself up as a masked vigilante, trying to make a name for herself much the same way Kim had. For a time, she simply went by the moniker the press had stuck her with, the Vigilante Ninja. It wasn't until she helped the couple when they were kidnapped from their own Senior Prom that she was revealed.

"Wade, have their been any reports of mysterious vigilantes taking out criminals where she lived? She never had the transportation options we did, so she always worked in the immediate area."

"There are a few, though they were mostly from about a year after the last Diablo incident. If that was her, she's either retired again, or she's learned how to cover her tracks a lot better."

"Hmmm. Somehow I think the latter is more likely. You think she's got the wherewithal to create another battle-suit?"

"I think she could have very easily put together a stripped-down version. If she's had three years to work on it, there's every possibility she could have. Want me to run a trace on her current location?"

"Please and thank you."

"Near as I can tell, she should be in Raleigh right now. I can patch you through to her telephone or cell number."

Kim got up from the table and started gathering her books. "No. This is something I need to ask her myself, face-to-face. If she's gone over to the other side, I don't want to tip her off that we're on to her."

"What are you doing, KP?" Ron asked, finishing off the last of his late evening snack.

"We're going to pay a little visit to our little wayward ninja-girl. Wade, can you spread a rumor there's going to be a break-in at Research Triangle Park?"

"Do you even need to ask? You know, she didn't fall for that trick before."

"I know, but she hasn't heard from us in years, so she might feel like she's safe. Send the flyer over, I need to be in North Carolina tonight."

"Whoa, time-out, Kim" Ron made a T with his hands. "There's no need to rush."

"Ron, it's been over three weeks since that device disappeared. The scientists are already getting antsy about it, and its only because she's covered her trail so well we haven't had GJ or somebody else muscling in on us. I'd be ferociously cranked if they sent Team Impossible in ahead of us."

"But if you said they couldn't figure it out?" Ron pleaded, hot on her tail as she headed into the bedroom and into the closet.

"I'm not going to take that chance. The MPG is our mission, I'm not going to let those over-confident jerks start trying to push us aside again like they did four years ago. You know they've just been waiting for the chance."

"Kim, what does it matter. They're part of GJ, and they're paid to do that. The whole point is that there's something really dangerous out there, and if they can bring them in…"

"No, Ron, there's pride on the line here. I'm going tonight. If Danika's in on this, we can at least get an idea what's become of the thing. If not, then she'll be none-the-wiser." She held her arm up once more. "Wade, gimme the Flyer, we're going."

"Okay, Kim. It'll be there in fifteen. I'll program a stealth-supersonic flight for you. Should put you there in four hours."

"You rock Wade. I'll call you once we're in flight."

Ron sat on the end of the bed, watching as she quickly changed out of the sweats she wore as pajamas. She noticed him sitting there as she zipped up the front of the dark gray and blue outfit.

"Come on, Ron, get changed. You're not going on a mission in a tank top and old board shorts."

"I'm…not going." He said, not meeting her eyes.

"What?"

"KP, I can't. It's going to take four hours to get there. It's already ten o'clock, and it's going to take at least four hours to get back, and I don't know how long it'll take while you're there. We won't be back until mid-day tomorrow."

"So? We'll miss a couple classes, no big."

Ron shook his head. "Yes, it is a big. I've got a test at eight tomorrow morning."

"Then call the prof and reschedule."

"Can't. He already made it clear we can't make up tests. Kim, it's my English class, and I've got Doctor Snyder this semester."

Kim's mouth dropped open and she fumbled with the zipper of the cargo pants she wore over the skin-tight suit. "Oh lord, why didn't you tell me you had him?"

"Didn't seem important at the time, but you've had him before, you know what he's like. You just plain don't miss his tests. It's either be there or get a zero."

Kim sat on the edge of the counter in the closet, biting her lower lip. Ron, of course, was right. A single missed test would pretty much rule out getting an A in the course, though, more importantly, it would make it all that much more dangerous for somebody like him. He had to work his tail off for every point on his grades. The week they lost the previous winter almost torched his whole college career.

She wavered for a moment, even as she could hear the nearly-silent aircraft landing just behind their back deck. This wasn't going to be a milk-run, not if she was going directly to her battle-suit. The almost forgotten dream from the night she had spent in the apartment alone came surging back to her.

Could she go on an important mission like this alone?

Then her pride came surging back to the front of her mind. If Wade could figure something like this out, so could others. He might have been one of the best behind-the-scenes coordinators out there, but people like Team Impossible had hundreds of people backing them up.

There was no question in her mind, though. Ron couldn't come on the mission. It would be one thing to miss some lectures, like she was going to, but quite another to miss an important test. Since it was early October it was likely one of the first major ones he was going to have. It would be the same for her if this were happening Friday, when her next exam was scheduled.

Ron got up from the bed and put his arms around her waist, first giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, then a longer one full on the lips. "KP, you'll be fine. You can do anything, remember? You've had to go it alone before, and this time it's not like I'm just running off to play video games with Felix or Paul."

"Okay. Just don't stay up too late studying. Wade said it earlier, you'll do more harm than good."

"I was going to call you to bed soon anyway. I know the stuff, I was just going over it to keep it fresh. Been doing the college thing over three years now, babe, I think I know what I'm doing."

"Darn it." She knew quite well what it meant if Ron wanted to go to bed any time before midnight, but, it couldn't be helped, not if she was going to finally resolve the issue. Three weeks without so much as a clue had been incredibly frustrating for her. There really was no way she could think what she did and not act upon it.

She reached around his waist and pulled him close, giving him the kind of kiss that would have been waiting for him if the evening had gone as he planned. She had been right, the new semester had changed their routine considerably, sleep becoming more important than romance. Kim made herself a little mental promise to make it up to him the following night, if she wasn't too tired from the mission. At least she could catch some sleep on the flyer both ways.

"Be careful." He warned. "She nearly kicked your biscuit before."

"If everything goes well, I'm just going to be talking to her. If she's not involved, then she shouldn't even know I was there. We both could be completely wrong and she's just a student in an advanced engineering course."

"Wish I could go with you." He stroked her cheek as she closed her eyes, enjoying his touch. "I love you."

"Love you too. Don't stay up late watching cartoons either. Some of that stuff the _Cartoon Channel _runs this time of night is kinda nasty anyway."

"Gotta do something until that _Crimson Steer_ I just drank wears off. I had something else in mind when I drank it."

"Fuel for the love machine?" She smiled, touching his cheek with her own gloved fingertips. Her resolve wavered once more, making her wish she could pull the gloves off and peel herself right out of the outfit…

…but duty called.

Standing up she gave him one more kiss, pressing her whole body against his. Part of it was the longing she felt for his touch, the other part was the slight twinge of fear she had about going on the mission without him at her side. A long time ago he told her about the buddy-system as Summer Camp. That held true for them as well. They had each other's backs when they were together. It was like going into a test without studying, like Ron going into a kitchen without his utensils.

It was going into battle without being fully prepared.

Shoving those dark thoughts aside, she went out the back door and climbed into the little blue aircraft. She watched as he waved from the open sliding-glass door, Rufus still perched on his shoulder, waving as well.

They were both still waving as the Flyer streaked off into the night sky.

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The plan was relatively simple. Wade put word out that a lab in the Research Triangle complex was going to be robbed, while at the same time he informed Global Justice and state and federal authorities there was no need for them to interfere. If Danika was back to playing masked hero around her college home, it would look like an easy collar for her.

Years ago they tried the same thing with her, only to discover she had in turn found a way to track them, or more specifically, Kim. Tipped off, she became wary of following such unfounded rumors, playing it cool for a while until the heat was off.

She was banking on the fact that nobody had been trying to catch her with such a ruse for some time. Besides that, Kim was confident she was right about the slightly younger woman. There was just something about her personality, something that, as a woman, she could sense in her. She had the same drive to succeed, though it manifested itself in slightly different ways. If anything, the thin blonde was much more like her former rival, Bonnie Rockwaller, than herself.

The Flyer hovered just above the clouds, the canopy opening as she prepared to jump. Before she arrived she made some adjustments to the controls of her suit. The blue bands had been damped down and she put her hood up, covering all but her face. The hood morphed slightly, producing an image intensifying visor. The computer displayed a synthetic view of the buildings below, with her target highlighted.

Kim would have preferred using one of the gli-packs; a more advanced version of their old jet-packs, utilizing a small ion drive instead of rockets. Unfortunately, they still put out a great deal of light, even though they were much quieter. That meant going a bit old-school.

Checking her rig one more time, she snugged her helmet down and leaped into the night. The low cloud cover made the jump a little more dangerous, especially since she wasn't going to deploy her chute until she was clear of it, but the heads-up display in her visor made up for some of that danger. She was still able to enjoy the adrenaline rush that came with free-falling.

Her dark-gray chute billowed over her head, and she cut her harness about twenty feet above her target, giving her just enough room to get her legs under her. The vent was precisely where the Wade's tech-scan said it would be. The cover crumpled under her feet and she found herself inside the building's ventilation system.

From there it was a simple matter of crawling on her belly. They selected this facility because Wade had a working relationship with them, easily securing their cooperation and the fact it still had old-style ductwork. Word had gotten out how easily a small person like herself could get in that way, and most high-security concerns had taken steps to prevent it.

At first she considered using her laser-lipstick to cut through the grating once she reached the chamber she was looking for, but if her hunch was right, she didn't want to chance tipping her quarry off that it was actually her. Danika knew a great deal about her methods, having secretly been a fan of hers prior to her short-lived career as the Vigilante Ninja.

It didn't matter. The screen was only press-fit, so it popped free in her hands. Carefully she tilted it and pulled it back into the shaft so it wouldn't clatter to the floor. She dropped down through the opening, holding with both hands while her visor adapted to the conditions. The floor was still about twenty feet below her; an easy drop for somebody with her training. She let go, feeling her stomach drop during the brief moment of free-fall.

He legs folded up under her as she landed, absorbing the impact silently. She looked around, glad she didn't have to refer to the control panel on her wrist. Wade had reworked the system so all the vitals of her suit's systems were right in front of her eyes.

She only caught the movement out of the corner of her eyes a moment too late. Something hit her midsection like a hammer blow. Her back slammed into a concrete wall, making her intensely thankful for the suit's muscular enhancements. If she had been in normal mission gear, she would have likely been knocked cold.

Kim didn't see her attacker for the second blow. All she saw was a blur, then the pain in her exposed chin. Whoever was attacking her wasn't giving her any quarter.

A dark figure came into view for an instant. It wasn't a very distinct silhouette, instead looking like it was quivering slightly. Then it disappeared once more as another blow caught her in her stomach.

Kim was being ambushed by somebody with hyper-speed!

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	9. Chapter 9

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 9**

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Ron knew he was in trouble the moment his head hit the pillow. It had been hard enough to fall asleep lately, so much so he had been resorting to taking the mild sedative Kim's Mom had prescribed for him back during the previous winter. Even that would not help him then, as they were gone and he would not be able to get any more without raising certain questions.

Questions he really didn't want to answer at the moment.

This sort of thing had happened before. Something would come up, something he knew he really should share with Kim, but for some reason he kept it to himself. There was no reasoning why he wouldn't, only that this time it was something that only affected him, not something that would blow up in Kim's face like the time he withheld the identity of WWEE's Agent Alpha.

He tried telling himself it really wasn't that crucial, that it was, as Kim would say, 'no big.' It was just a bump in the road, something he would deal with himself and never have to worry her about. Sure, he could have told her that first day of class. He should have told her, but for some reason he could not fathom, he simply kept his mouth shut.

Several weeks later, with the semester in full-swing, he found himself trapped. If Kim found out about it now, she would blow her top. As much as he loved her, he couldn't stand the thought of her being angry, especially with him. There was simply too much on her plate anyway. She was buried in school work, trying to stay on top of her missions, tutoring some kids at MHS, still volunteering to help keep Middleton Park clean and on top of all that, her Mom was kicking into high-gear over wedding plans. That weekend the two women were supposed to start looking at dresses. Ron couldn't imagine what in the world needed to be planned so intricately about a ceremony that was not only three seasons away, but would only last about half an hour to forty-five minutes. Get the dress, get the tux, make sure his yarmulke is on straight and go in there and repeat after Rabbi Katz and Pastor Grayson. Not a huge issue!

Yet, it really was. He was ready for Kim to jump into planning with both feet, but not so soon. Kim would have a very vivid notion of what she was expecting in her head. There was just the matter of getting it out of that pretty little head and onto paper, or in this case, onto her and her bridesmaids. That was going to take a while, with all the things she was involved with.

Staring at the ceiling, wide awake, Ron rubbed his forehead. On top of all that, they were supposed to start their official 'pre-marriage' counseling with both Katz and Grayson. What they would talk about with either man that they hadn't already discussed with his Rabbi at great length, he couldn't imagine, but neither man would consent to perform the ceremony without the series of meetings, some as a full group, some one-on-one. It was just another thing that seemed to be piling on him at once.

From the moment the words escaped his lips, Ron had been feeling literally sick to his stomach. He couldn't even believe he said them and had been regretting them ever since. He was putting his performance in school above Kim's success on a mission. What was more than that, she thought it dangerous enough she took the rare precaution of wearing a battle-suit. Outside of routine training, they had not worn them in months, preferring their old-school outfits. In fact, the last time they had used them for any extended period was for a visit they paid to old Monkey Fist at his manor in England, the same mission that ended with them being kidnapped by a spaceship, a mission where they first…

Ron rolled onto his belly, bashing his forehead uselessly against his pillow. How many times did he have to learn his lesson. He should have told Kim about it. It really wasn't unexpected, save for the fact it had somehow waited until his final year to manifest itself. If he had simply opened his mouth as they walked home from class…

…instead he had kept it shut. More than that, he kept his mouth against Kim's. Four years as a couple and many months since they had finally consummated the relationship and she was still highly affectionate, almost to the point of distraction. If it hadn't been for his little sister's birthday party, they probably would have come straight home, with little thought about dinner. That was all part and parcel of Kim's personality. She never did anything halfway. That was something that took him a little by surprise. Most people thought of her as a sweet, demure 'girl-next-door' type. Outside of her familiar circles she could be very shy.

Having known Ron since they were both four years old, Kim was not the least bit shy around Ron. Her type "A" personality surged to the fore and she went after everything she wanted. It had been that way when she discovered how much she liked kissing him. It was that way when they started exploring some other options when they turned eighteen and it was certainly that way with the entirety of their love-life.

Ron knew he should have been in hog-heaven. He loved Kim with his whole heart and having her giver herself to him so freely, so regularly was supposed to be a twenty-one year old guy's dream. Oh, he liked it, every minute of it, to the point he sometimes worried if he would be able to keep up. That hadn't been a problem for them but it still entered his thoughts from time to time.

Only, now that he had some problems of his own, it seemed like a distraction. It was too easy to think he could deal with everything later and simply be with the woman who would be his wife in just over nine months. But that was part of the problem. If things did not work out, he would have failed, and to him, that would make him simply unworthy of her, both in his eyes and he supposed in hers as well.

It wasn't like he was failing. Some of his courses were harder than others, especially the more technically sophisticated ones. He routinely excelled in everything relating to cooking within his culinary arts courses. If he had enrolled in a simply two-year course to become a chef, he would have passed that with flying colors. But he was in a degree course. He didn't just want to learn to be a master in the kitchen…that came naturally to him. No, his ambition, his desire was to one day own his own restaurant, to be respected and loved for his natural talents. His cooking skills would only take him so far, he knew. It was one thing to be able to please virtually anyone at the table, it was quite another to run a successful business.

In reality, the cooking portion of his curriculum was relatively small. There were days when he had to spend hours in the lab, basically going through the motions since he was probably qualified to teach it, but what really ground him down were the business courses. If he thought there was too much math involved in doughnut stuffing, then there was infinitely more when it came to the culinary and entertainment industry as a whole.

While Kim was in one of her mysterious International Diplomacy classes, Ron was called into his new guidance counselor's office. He had a pretty good idea what he would be told. It turned out he was right.

The counselor was a new professor at Middleton College. Why he had been assigned to Ron, there was no clue. He was actually an accomplished artist, not a chef, a restaurateur or even actually involved with the entertainment industry outside of gallery showings. How was he supposed to know what it took to guide Ron's path, especially since he had just started as a Senior?

Professor Dubois was even younger than Ron was expecting. If he was thirty, he would be surprised. Somehow he was reminded of Josh Mankey, though the Professor was somewhat better filled out and distinctly European, an assessment that proved trued the moment he opened his mouth.

"Mister Stoppable." His accent was distinctly French, though his English was actually better than Ron's. Right off the bat that gave the younger man pause. Ron didn't personally have anything against the French, having proclaimed his love for them in the past. Francois had always been a good friend to the two of them, but on the other hand there was Steve Barkin. For some reason the teacher distrusted them and that manifested itself in the way he taught and some of the comments he made. That left an impression on Ron, making him wonder if there was some good reason for it.

"I have been reviewing your progress over the last three years. I am sure you were expecting to complete your studies under Professor Reynolds, but that is regrettably no longer possible. Unfortunately, there are political factors at work in this school's administration and as a result, his students and those he is counseling have been assigned to others. I am aware I am not completely qualified to judge your progress in your core studies, but on whole, I am sure I can make a sound judgment."

"I've passed all my courses. I've even been getting some As, here and there."

"Yes. Here and there. See, that is the problem. You seem to excel in certain areas, while in other, and by others I mean most others, you seem to squeak by, barely passing."

Ron nodded, divining where the conversation was leading. "I admit, I've gotten a gentleman's C in a lot of my courses."

"Yes, you have…barely. Mathematically speaking, you are passing and if you keep that level of work up, you will pass all of your courses this year. That is, if you can handle the level of work expected of you these last two semesters, something, given what I am seeing here, I have my doubts about. I've analyzed your course and professor selections over the last three years. One thing has become readily apparent. You seem to choose many courses where attendance is not mandatory, at least for the most part. On top of that, I see that in the second semester of your Junior year you were absent without permission for an entire week."

"I've got a special situation. You see, I'm part of Team…"

"Yes, Team Possible, I know. I admit that reading tabloid publications is something of a guilty pleasure of mine. I know all about your fiancé and your world-saving hobby."

Ron grimaced slightly. It was never good when anyone referred to what they did as a hobby. Even Kim's parents said that from time to time and, upon reflection, it was actually a fair assessment. After they had resigned as independent contractors with Global Justice, they were helping people free of charge again. He had come to enjoy the feeling of nobility by offering his services to the world with Kim.

"You have to ask yourself, Mr. Stoppable, what is more important, Your hobby, or your future? Yes, your grades are passing. The problem is, I don't see them as good enough for you to be successful."

"I thought if I passed…"

"Passing is not good enough. You can pass every one of your courses, but you still have to go before the degree committee and prove that you have not only passed, but succeeded in your college education. There is also the matter of your Senior Thesis."

The conversation lasted well over an hour. Dubois made it abundantly clear that he was not going to recommend Ron for graduation at his current level of performance. If he as going to graduate and get his degree, he would have to step up. Normally speaking, anything better than a D was considered worthy of promotion, but a C on his Thesis would doom him. He would have four years of college education, but nothing else to show for it. In other words, he was going to fail even though he hadn't failed a single course.

Four years of his life, as well as all his effort the last year and a half of high-school was going to be wasted, all because one person didn't think it was worthy. That crushed him. He would probably be able to get work as a cook, but it would likely take him many years to work his way up to even being an associate chef.

That was what he could not bring himself to tell Kim. She was well on her way to finishing with flying colors. Her thesis proposal was accepted enthusiastically and short of a situation that would keep her out of her classes for an extended period, she was going to graduate, probably at the top of her class. Once again, she was going to be the big winner and he was going to be…

…a loser.

In the short term he knew she would be okay with that. There was no question that she loved him and would keep loving him even if he ended up being an assistant manager at Bueno Nacho, but eventually the disparity between the two of them would tell. She would be yet another doctor in her family, while he would get up every morning, put on an orange polo shirt and a clip on tie the colors of the Mexican flag and go to work, earning a tenth of what she did.

Kim deserved better than that.

Yet that was not the main thing that had him lying awake at two in the morning. The energy drink had worn off hours earlier and he should have been sleeping soundly, getting the rest he needed for Doctor Snyder's test.

He knew in his heart he was letting her down. He should have gone with her. Kim was facing unknown danger without him to have her back. Sure, he couldn't fight quite like she could, probably never would. He had the Mystical Monkey Power, but even a month spent at Yamanouchi had failed to give him any sort of mastery over it, but there was something else he knew deep inside. Just his presence gave her the confidence she needed to prevail. Years ago they had discovered that, for all her abilities, there was something intangible he brought to the table. Call it the Ron Factor, or just being an inspiration to her, he was part of her and part of what she did.

Staying behind was nothing short of selfish. Team Possible was the center of her being. It was what she was before her college career, before their life together. His being a part of that was what had drawn them together over seventeen years. Staying behind just so he could pass a test felt like an outright betrayal of that. Grimly, he realized he hadn't even mentioned he was taking a course with her former teacher. He hadn't shared anything about his struggle with her, and that was just as big a betrayal.

Yet, that was not all. If he failed the test, that would be just one more nail in his coffin. Sure, he could go with her, be with her as she confronted their former classmate, but that would just maintain the status quo for a little while longer. If he couldn't recover from missing it, his ambitions would be over, and eventually she would tire of him being a failure. For perhaps the first time he understood what a catch-twenty-two really was.

On top of all that, he was lying awake, thinking about Kim, thinking about their future instead of sleeping. If he wasn't at his best, he would perform just as poorly as if he hadn't been there to take the exam at all. The small betrayal of staying behind was going to be utterly and totally wasted. He would still fail and he would still end up losing her in the long run.

It all made him start considering the unthinkable. Would it be fair for him to hang onto what they had? Sure, he could support them financially. There was enough money in his trust fund to last them many, many years if they were careful, but that was not what he wanted to do. He didn't want his future handed to him, he wanted to make something of himself, to do it on his own and make himself worthy of the greatest woman he ever knew.

Could he go through with that future if he failed? Could he put Kim though a slow, inevitable descent into loserdom?

He rolled onto his back once more, wishing he could pick up his Kimmunicator and call her, to tell her everything. Yet he knew he couldn't. By then she would be there, waiting to surprise Danika. She didn't need to be saddled with those kinds of things when she needed her head in the game. There was also the chance her Kimmunicator would go off at precisely the worst time, further endangering her. If he was going to talk to her, it had to be when she returned.

That led to even darker thoughts. What if she didn't return immediately? What if the mission turned sour and she ended up hurt? It was bad enough watching her get injured when they were together, but not being there was infinitely worse. No, he made his own bed, in a manner of speaking, and he would have to lie in it. There was nothing he could do at that point. There was only one Flyer, and it would either be parked near her target, or circling in the upper stratosphere nearby. By the time he called it home and flew out there, everything would be over.

What if she did get hurt? Then he would have to admit how he had failed her, and that stood the chance of bringing everything crashing down instantly. There were not supposed to be any secrets between them and even though this was something seemingly minor, it was resulting in the possibility of her not only failing, but getting injured, or worse.

He got up and started pacing the room. If he hadn't been such an idiot perhaps she would have helped him. No, she most def would have helped him. There was even the chance she would have stayed home, if for no other reason than to sleep beside him so he would be rested for the morning. Life was so much simpler when he could simply drop everything to go with her, so much easier when none of that mattered. Growing up brought with it such hard choices, choices that he really didn't want to have to make. It was about so much more than living together, than being able to make love to her.

Why did life have to be so hard?

He sat down on the couch in their den/living room, idly scratching Rufus as he slept in a pile of pillows. There was only one thing he could think of to do. When Kim came home, when his test was complete, whether he passed or failed, they were going to have to sit down and have a long talk. He was going to have to come clean about what had transpired over the last few weeks and hope she understood. That was his only hope if they were going to go on.

If he couldn't do that, then what did they really have?

Finally, he nodded off, drifting into a restless sleep filled with formless nightmares that, mercifully, he would not remember when he awakened.

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Kim thought furiously as she tried dodging her attacker. She had one hope, based on what she had already seen. If her foe had been operating at true hyper-speed, she would not have been able to see her at all. That meant the mysterious female figure was moving at a significantly accelerated speed, but not so fast that time would slow down for them. That fact alone told her that she was facing an actual human being and not a reconstituted Bebe robot. There was also the fact the super-speedy automatons had been totally eradicated the last time she faced them, something Wade had been careful to discover. When she destroyed the original three robots they didn't know there was a prototype still in Drakken's possession. How it got re-activated, they never found out, but there had been no trace of them once she destroyed their island manufacturing facility and disconnected Bonnie from their central processing unit. The Bebe consciousness and hive-mind was utterly destroyed.

If a human were using the hyper-speed technology, that meant they had to be careful. So far, Kim was the only human to operate at that speed for any length of time, and it took weeks for her metabolism to recover once the power cells in the Valkyrie 1000 shoes had finally worn down. Wade later determined that the shoes kept trying to accelerate her faster and faster, putting them out of sync with her. That's why she wasn't able to take them off until they died. If somebody else had gotten their hands on that tech, then they had learned to use it only at lower power settings, lest they burn their bodies out completely.

The woman was pressing her attack, using her speed to full advantage. If it weren't for the suit's ability to increase her own reaction times, she would have already been down for the count. Still, she had not been able to lay a hand on her during the whole battle, which had so far lasted about thirty seconds.

Kim's ribs hurt, as did her jaw. If she didn't do something fast she was going to lose. The time for subterfuge had passed. She knew she needed to use her suit at its full potential. Risking dropping her guard for a moment, she touched a control mounted on the left wrist.

The blue bands and stripes surged to life just as another blow landed on her. Only this time, instead of knocking her into one of the exposed pipes in the bowels of the research complex, blue light flared as the automatic defense screens blocked the speed-enhanced power of the attack.

The woman seemed to materialize right in front of her. She was slender, just like Kim, though with thinner legs and just a touch shorter. Her suit was solid black, with shining black bands running along it just like the blue ones on Kim's. In that instant she knew it was in fact Danika Foster she was fighting. She had not only rebuilt her own power suit, she had found other ways to improve it.

Too late, Kim realized the semi-hyper-speed capabilities weren't the only thing the young vigilante had added. She pointed her hand at Kim and a softer blue glow shot out at her.

_Immobilization ray!_ She thought as her body went rigid.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	10. Chapter 10

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 10**

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_This so wasn't happening._

_What was it about going on missions without Ron? Fly to Wisconsin without him, Shego gets the drop on me. Go chasing after a mind-controlled Nana and get tied up with knitting yarn by a couple oldsters. Go up against Motor Ed and Drakken without him, end up spending most of the night cleaning red primer out of your hair._

_Fly to a lab in North Carolina and get zapped with an immobilization ray._

Actually, the last time that happened to her, Ron was right at her side…actually, he was the one who tried to use the IM ray on Shego and it backfired on the two of them.

That fact wasn't doing anything for her confidence. It seemed any time she went it alone, something bad happened to her. There had to be something to the _Ron factor_. Yes, he managed to get the two of the captured himself, but somehow that always set up a chain of events that led to their eventual success.

At least this once she wasn't about to be thrown into a pool of molten lava or dropped into a pit full of hungry Florida alligators. If she was lucky and her old classmate was actually still on the side of the angels, then the worst that could happen was that she would be turned over to the authorities, which would prove interesting until everyone's stories could be verified.

Then it occurred to her that she had already seem several technologies at work the young blonde shouldn't have had. "Stealing from Canadian spy agencies now?" Kim asked as she regained control of her mouth.

Danika touched a control on her wrist and the visor and hood of her battle-suit retracted invisibly into the neck. She looked much the same as Kim remembered her from high school, except her hair was much shorter, probably in keeping with wearing the mask if she was indeed back to her old ways trying to play at being a hero, or something worse.

As the beam slowly wore off, she took a white zip-tie from a hidden pocket and bound Kim's hands behind her back. "Wasn't expecting to go up against a Load Mark II Battle-suit tonight, and, no, I haven't been stealing anything from Can-Tel. There's nothing in my Fos-Tech 2000 suit that is stolen."

"Oh, really? What about the suit itself? If nothing else, it's stolen technology."

"Only if you count the inspiration. I built the suit myself, using my own knowledge. That's all beside the point, because you're not preventing me from doing my job this time, Possible."

"Your job? Danika, you're a nineteen year-old college student."

"Hello, Kettle? This here's Pot. News flash, Possible, you were the same thing once. You're not the only person in the world capable of helping people. I just choose to do it in the background instead of grandstanding like you do."

"I don't grandstand. I just don't keep secrets, except when its necessary."

"I deem what I do a necessary secret. Keeps my friends and family out of trouble and it lets me live a normal life when I don't have this suit on."

"I live a normal life." Kim countered. "Now if you don't mind, I'm starting to cramp up."

"What? And have you loose so you can try to take me in, to reveal my secret to the world? Just because you're jealous that somebody else can do this kind of thing?"

"I'm not jealous, I'm only here because I thought you might be involved in the theft of some stolen technology, and it still looks like I might be right. Let me guess, you hacked into Global Justice's systems through your mother's accounts and got the tech for the IM ray there? Did a little industrial espionage with Movement Dynamics for the hyper-speed acceleration tech?"

"I told you, Kim." Danika switched to her first name as she hopped up onto the edge of a handy counter, putting her above her captive. "There's nothing in this suit that is stolen. Yes, I've had some help with certain aspects of the tech in this battle-suit, but it's all legitimate. Wade isn't the only person in the world willing to help people like us, and it sure helps if they don't stay locked up in their room all the time either."

"Wade doesn't stay in his room. In fact, most of the time I talk to him now he's at his job at the Space Center."

Danika chuckled slightly. "Yeah, stealing tech from a twenty-fifth century space-craft. Oh, don't look so shocked, Kim. You live with secrets you start learning how to find out others. Now, am I to suppose you were trying to set up another one of your trademark traps, or were you planning on actually stealing some of the technology here? That would be very interesting if it were true, though I don't think you would stoop to stealing things like the D-Hopper."

"The what?"

"Oh, come on. Unless you've gone over to the other side, you have to be after whoever stole the artifact."

"No, hold on. I'm actually after…something else. What the heck is a D-Hopper?"

"It's a piece of unknown tech that a group of scientists were studying. It's a rod, about so long," She held her hands about nine inches apart, "with a series of concentric rings. Supposedly, if you aligned the rings correctly, you could use it to travel through the dimensions. Dimension Hopper, D-Hopper, get it?"

"Okay, so you're supposedly after something else. That doesn't explain why we have a recording of you at the scene where the tech I'm looking for was stolen."

"At the scene? Okay, Kim, what are you talking about?"

"Cut me loose and I'll show you. There's a shot of you, in that battle-suit trying to disable the security at a research facility in the Rocky Mountains."

"Rockies? Okay, now I know you're off it. I haven't been west of the Mississippi since I left Middleton. There's enough crap going on over here that I don't have to go jetting all over the world, then go hunting for a camera."

Kim shook her head. "You've got an awfully dim view of me being a public figure, don't you? Did you know that I tend to avoid the press when I can?"

"Oh, is that why you sent out a press release when Ron finally popped the question? I'm surprised your picture hasn't been on the cover of every bridal magazine already."

"We're only just starting to plan the wedding, and we only sent out that release to head off one of the tabloids from running as story with a lot of bad information in it."

"Okay, we're getting off the subject here. Bottom line it, Kim…why are you here?"

"Several weeks ago, a device was stolen. The only evidence we have so far is a photo of somebody matching your description almost to a 'T'."

"So, you just can't pick up a phone and call? Just because you've got a shot of somebody wearing a black outfit? News flash, Kim, that's the standard uniform of a burglar since the beginning of time."

"Are all burglars slender, small-chested women about five-three and a hundred pounds?" Kim countered.

"Wow. Couple inches there and you might be describing yourself. Hmmm, what did I see dropping out of that vent a little bit ago. Oh yeah, it was a small-chested, slim girl in a solid black, skin-tight outfit breaking into a supposedly secure facility."

"If you were involved, I couldn't risk tipping you off that we were on to you."

Danika pursed her lips. "Alright. I want your word that if I cut you loose you're not going to try anything."

"I promise."

The blonde former cheerleader shrugged again, pulling a slim-bladed knife from a hidden sheath in her forearm. Kim narrowed her eyes, realizing the young woman's suit was designed with many more offensive capabilities than her own. She might be telling the truth about her lack of involvement, but her exploits were definitely going to bear looking into. It seemed too much like she was playing for keeps.

Sheathing the knife, she nodded to her former captive. "Okay, show me this…evidence."

Kim took a few moments rubbing the feeling back into her wrists. Even after really just a few minutes, those zip-ties tended to cut in, even with the material of her suit and gloves in between it and her skin. Finally, she rolled the edge of her glove back, exposing her wrist Kimmunicator.

Danika spent a few moments examining the picture. "Too bad it isn't in color. I don't think that suit is solid black, though it's only a profile shot and not head on. Close, but it's not my suit. See, there's some exposed skin on the arms, and if I'm right, across the belly as well. Kim, I can see why you might think she looks a bit like me, but it's not. Even the boot line is different." She pointed at her feet. Much like Kim's current suit, it had heavily treaded, protective boots rather than the slim, almost slipper-like feet of the woman in the picture. Despite the dark color, it was much more like the original white super-suit, albeit with the odd missing patches she had not noticed before.

"What did she steal?"

"You've read my older files, do you remember the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer?"

"Oh, tell me she didn't steal that thing again. You sure you're not just dealing with Shego? That could be her if the suit was a little more constricting than that green and black jumpsuit. You know, now that I think about it, that suit vaguely resembles that pattern."

"Somebody seemed to be going out of their way to make it look like Shego was involved, but I don't believe it was her. She has…other thing occupying her right now."

"If you ask me, she should be occupying a jail cell. So, the Pan-whatever is gone again?"

"No. GJ has that thing secured, or at least I hope so. The same scientists were trying to make something that would do the same thing, but be safer to handle. They did succeed in duplicating some of the features, but it turns out the thing is just as dangerous as the PDVI. It's called the Multi-Phasic Portal Generator."

Danika rubbed her slender chin. "You know, if you asked me, that sounds awfully similar to what the D-Hopper is supposed to do. Almost like…"

"..the two thefts could be related. I was thinking the same thing. I…"

The younger woman grabbed her arm suddenly. "Hold on a minute, there, Kim. Don't go thinking just because we may be after the same thing you're going to drag me along as some kind of sidekick. I've got my own investigation to run here, and I don't need you mucking things up by glamming from the spotlight."

"For the last time, Dan, I'm not doing this for attention. I just simply help people, and those scientists asked for my help. Now if you want to get into it, so far all I have is your word that you're not involved with this, and then there's the issue of that suit you're wearing. I haven't seen anything yet that tells me you're not lying about the technology in it."

"Listen, I don't have time to get into that with you. You're just going to have to believe me, or do I have to whup you're old-school wide-load butt again?"

"Danika, I am getting ferociously tired of this chip on your shoulder."

"Chip? You come into my territory accusing me of stealing something that I'd protect if asked to? You try to trap me the same way you did back in Middleton? Come off it, Kim. I've got every reason to be ticked with you. You want to know how I got the hyper-speed tech? Movement Dynamics gave it to me. Let's just say I called in a favor after I helped them with some other industrial espionage problems they had. The self-healing fibers the suit's made of? I figured out how to synthesize them myself. Yeah, that part might be considered intellectual theft, but only if I was trying to sell it for a profit. I can't unlearn what I know and it would be stupid not to use every advantage I've got. As for the IM ray? Yeah, I got it from Global Justice. Maybe you ought to ask your 'good friend' Betty Director about that some time. No, on second thought, that wouldn't do any good. She knows something about keeping secrets."

"I still only have you word for all of that."

"Fine. You can follow up on anything you want to, but if you try to do anything I'm just going to power up and this time I'll just leave you tied up to explain things to the local police in the morning. I've got better things to do, like a test I've got to take in just four hours." She narrowed her eyes as Kim hung her head slightly. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just Ron has a test too, that's why he's not here."

"What's the matter? He finally get a teacher who wouldn't let him run off at the drop of a hat?"

"Actually, yes, and if you remember correctly, we had to deal with that almost the entire senior year."

"Pity you. I've had to deal with that from day one. If I miss something, I miss it and I have to come up with a reason why I did so I can keep my secret."

Kim cocked her head. "That's why I don't like running around in secret. It means lying to people, not just your enemies, but to your friends, people you love. As for having a teacher who won't let you out? Ron drew Doctor Snyder. You remember him, don't you?"

"Barely. Never had any of his classes. They got some other brainiac to come in there after you left, but I never had to deal with them since we moved to Pennsylvania." She hopped back up on the counter. "Look, I'll make a deal with you. Leave the D-Hopper to me, stay out of my way and go back to your little shack-up with Ron."

"How did you?..."

"Uh, hello. Tabloids? Most of those thing may get his name wrong, but it's pretty obvious the two of you are living together now, unless you ran off to Vegas to elope."

"Uh, well, no, we'd never do that, but yes, we have an apartment right off campus."

"Lucky you. I think my Mom is probably spying on my dorm room right now to see if my boyfriend is there. Anyway, you butt out of my investigation and I let you go home. I run across anything about this multi-whatever…"

"Multi-Phasic Portal Generator. We've been calling it the MPG for short."

"That thing, yeah. I find out anything about that, I'll drop you a line. You run across the D-hopper, or find out the thefts are related, you do the same thing. Other than that, we all go home, get forty winks and pretend none of this ever happened."

"Oh, I'll go home alright, but I am going to be verifying your story. You still have a public persona to maintain, so I'll know where to find you if you're lying to me."

"Knock yourself out. Not an issue." Danika challenged. "Since I'm not lying, I couldn't care less what you do, so long as my name isn't dragged through all this mess."

"Deal."

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Danika watched as her one-time cheer squad captain climbed into her little blue Flyer, remaining there, staring into the sky as it accelerated to the west. Once she was sure Kim was gone, she pulled a small hand-held device out of a pouch on her hip. The slim unit looked amazingly like one of Kim's original Kimmunicators, only with a larger screen. She didn't have the holographic technology her one time sort-of mentor employed. Her efforts in designing the suit went more toward its capabilities in actual combat. None of the really interesting weapons had actually come into play that night. The moment her opponent's suit started blazing blue, she knew what was actually happening.

The picture she pulled up on the screen was very similar to the one Kim had. It showed a figure in a dark outfit obviously skulking in a generic looking corridor. Only this picture was in color, showing in fact the suit wasn't just black, but black and dark purple, for some reason having diagonal bare patches on the stomach and arms. It looked…stylish to the fashion-minded young blonde, but not very practical as far as a protective garment went. Why cover the whole head with a hood, mask and visor if other patches of skin would be showing? That just didn't make sense.

When she had seen the picture, Kim Possible was the first person she thought of, with her seeming obsession for wearing clothes that exposed her belly, but she did have to admit the woman in the picture really couldn't be her former class-mate. The legs were too thin, and Possible had those chubby 'boy-legs.'

Danika was a little disgusted with herself for falling for the same trap again. If it hadn't been for the superior combat abilities of her suit, she might have been the one tied up, possibly being exposed while Kim verified her story, something that would be quite hard to do.

She was a little worried that Kim might actually follow through with her threat to corroborate her alibis. It was true she did help Movement Dynamics with some things, but in reality she had helped herself to some of their more poorly guarded secrets. She knew about the time Kim took on the Bebe robots with the Valkyrie 1000 shoes, so she went looking for that tech specifically. As for the IM ray, Kim actually pretty much nailed how she had gotten her hands on that. Her mother was a staff psychiatrist with Global Justice, and even though she had been exposed in the past for hacking into their systems, it was so easy to do it again once they were set up in their new home. If it had been any easier to get the schematics for the ray, they would have handed it to her themselves.

Maybe she was a little more 'ethically challenged' than Kim, but she knew she was doing good. She wasn't profiting by the tech she liberated from others, unless you counted the fact she used it to win. Just so long as she left the bad-guys wrapped up all nice and neat for the cops.

Satisfied with herself, she headed off to her waiting motorcycle, ready to head back to campus, her dorm, and her really cute boyfriend who actually was waiting for her in her room.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	11. Chapter 11

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 11**

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Kim unlocked the front door of the apartment and headed straight for the couch, collapsing onto it, heedless of where the throw pillows were. It had been a long day. No, scratch that, a long week. So long, that she actually had to call her mother and cancel their plans to go look at dresses and meet with a prospective 'wedding planner.' She was sure her mother thought she was ducking out on the preparations, but she literally had too much on her plate. Between school and the rest of her responsibilities, she suddenly had no time.

She seemed to hit the ground running from the moment she got back from the east coast. It was just after seven in the morning, Middleton time, meaning she had just spent the entire night awake. Even on the flight home she had been too wound up to get a little rest on the flyer, even though it was on a totally pre-programmed flight. Sleep would have to wait, as she had a nine-o'clock class she would rather not miss. It was a lot more difficult to flake out on a particular course as a senior than it was as an underclassman. Students learned pretty quickly in classes with over a hundred of them they could pretty much show up when they pleased. It was the ones who did that too often, or at all that served to thin the herd. By the time she reached her fourth year, the classes were smaller than many she had in high school. Lack of sleep or not, she was going to be there, even if it was just a notes taking lecture.

The first surprise of the new day was waiting for her at home. Her eyes flared open when she spotted Ron, sound asleep on the couch, his hand on the television remote. The sole reason he flaked on the mission was because he had a major test at eight o'clock, and there he was, apparently staying up all night long watching who-knows-what on cable instead of getting a proper night's sleep in bed.

If she hadn't gotten home when she did, he would have missed the test altogether. To say she was a bit angry was to say her hair was just a little red. He was so flustered she pretty much had to dress him, shove an granola bar and an energy drink down his throat and shove him out the door, all the while realizing that getting him up and out the door was cutting into her shower time.

The rest of the week was a complete blur to her. Her professors were piling the work up on her, there was a festival planned for Middleton Park, so the organizers wanted her assistance, her mother was kicking into overdrive about the wedding and, to top it all off, as if she needed any other complications, the cramps were starting, signaling a particularly intense bout of PMS in the offing.

Ron acted like he wanted to talk about something, but he chose a particularly bad moment to try. One look from her and he scurried off to another room of their home and didn't broach the subject again. It didn't dawn on her until later that he actually might have wanted to talk about whatever it was that had been preoccupying him the last few weeks, but she pretty much blew her chance. It couldn't have been too bad, since they had discussed at length how there would be no secrets between them. He knew better than to keep something critical from her, so whatever it was couldn't be that important. He would let her know about it when he was ready.

It also became much clearer to her why things had slowed down considerably in the bedroom. Sleep, whenever she could come by it, was a lot more important, even to the point they were regularly foregoing everything but a quick kiss, if one or the other wasn't already asleep. More often than not, she was the one who had nodded off before he even wrapped up his work and came to bed.

_We are so old marrieds_, she told herself repeatedly.

Kim was actually in the process of dozing off on the couch when she heard a key in the lock. She mentally berated herself for not waiting outside Ron's last class so they could walk back together. It was only a couple blocks, but it was something they had done since the semester started. What did he think when he left the building and didn't see her there waiting in the quad.

If it bothered him, he didn't show it. He threw his book-bag and chef's jacket onto a chair an plopped down on the couch right beside her.

"Did that week just happen?"

"I think so. Ask me again in about an hour when I'm not so numb. Did you get your test back?"

"Yeah. Got a 'B', though Snyder took me aside and said I was only a hair's breadth away from a 'C'. I did okay on the questions part, but he could tell I was coasting on the essay questions."

"If it was any other teacher, I'd ask why you didn't try to explain what happened to you."

Ron leaned forward, wiping his face with his hands. "He actually thought I had just been on a mission. How 'bout your test?"

"I think I did pretty good. Should get an 'A', but sometimes you get a bad surprise. I'm just glad it's all over."

"Did you call Mom P to re-sched the shopping trip?"

Kim closed her eyes, letting her fingers drift lightly across Ron's back. "So not. Honey, I swear I think she's going to end up getting some _Vera Chang_ monstrosity with a forty foot long train and a veil that could be used in a Middle Eastern country. She won't even let me get a word in edge-wise about the whole thing."

"Go easy on her, KP. You're her only daughter…that is, unless she gets a wild hair to be like my Mom."

"Oh, puh-leeze. Mom has one thing, and one thing only on her mind, and that's for me to pop out a grand-baby for her to spoil. It's like she has this notion the moment we walk down that aisle I'm going to flush my pills right down the toilet. I think I see why she was always so, I don't know, eager for us to get together."

Ron sat back and put his head on Kim's shoulder. She leaned her own head against his, both of them keeping their eyes closed. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about. Oh, Joss called, said she couldn't get you on your Kimmunicator."

Kim touched a control on her wrist-unit. "Sorry, turned it off while I was taking the test. Was it about that last mission she and the Tweebs went on?"

"No, she called on the personal line. I think she just wants to talk to you."

She rubbed her temple. "I hope she's not wanting to ask me if she can sneak her boyfriend over here."

"I thought those two were on the outs."

Kim sat up, shaking her head. "She's worse than Bonnie was with Brick. One week he's moving too fast for her, the next she's practically ready to have him right there in his pickup, then it's like he only thinks about one thing."

"Wow, teenagers wanting to make out all the time. What a concept." Ron said, gently rubbing the small of her back.

"Oh, very funny, Ron. Joss is a…little more experienced than we were."

"Uh, KP, she just turned eighteen. It really wasn't that long ago we were there…" He stopped for a moment, even his hand freezing in place. "You don't mean they're?..."

"I don't know if she's slept with this Bobby guy yet, but I bet she intends to, sooner than later. Not everybody waits until they're twenty, baby."

"We wouldn't have waited that long if stuff didn't keep happening to us." He countered, his fingers going back to their kneading.

"Why does she come to me with all this stuff? I feel like the world's biggest hypocrite every time I open my mouth around her. It's like every time I see her, all I see is a little twelve year-old kid dressed up like me, not a young woman, a grown young woman."

"It runs in the family."

"What?"

"You heard me. What's it going to be like when our daughter hits, oh, maybe fourteen and starts really noticing boys. I can just hear it now. 'Okay, Jean Anne…'"

"You're so sure we're going to have a daughter?"

"Just go with me on this KP. 'Okay, Jean Anne, so you're grown up now, that means there are some new rules. First off, no boys, ever."

Kim turned on him, her green eyes getting huge. "I am so not turning into my Dad!"

"So are. Listen to yourself, KP. Next thing you know you're going to be saying something like 'I know what's best for you, even if you don't.'"

"I…" Her hand went to her mouth. She had said that very thing to her younger cousin back in the summer when she wanted to come spend some time at their first apartment so she could have some cooling off space between her and her uncle.

Kim sat back on the couch, throwing an arm over Ron's chest, burying her cheek on the space between his chest and his shoulder. "Tell me this is all over, tell me we don't have to go back Monday and do all this over again. I just want to curl up with you and sleep clear to next week. I want to jump in the car and just head up to the Ski Lodge. I don't care if the place is full of mountain-bikers, all I want is to turn off our Kimmunicators, turn off our cell-phones and tell Wade to disable our tracking chips and not tell anybody where we've gone."

"Uh, well, we do have a meeting with Rabbi Katz Sunday afternoon, not to mention you told me not to let you forget to put in at least a couple hours on that sociology project you're working on."

"Don't know whether to say I love you or punch you in the gut." She grimaced, having indeed forgotten both.

"Kim, check my math. I just turned twenty-one a couple months ago, right?"

"Yes, baby, you're twenty-one."

"Then why do I feel like I'm forty-one?"

"Ron, forty-one is not old. You're just worn out because we got so slack all summer. We really should have done something besides just lounge around, like get a job or something."

He played with a couple strands of her hair as she snuggled against him. "I'd have to say moving into two apartments in rapid succession was plenty of work. Here's the bad part, KP. It's just starting. The rest of our lives is probably going to be like this. I was just thinking the other day that growing up was about a whole lot more than, well, this." For emphasis he gave her waist a little squeeze.

"I know, it's just…whenever I thought about this part of our lives I always thought it would be going to class, doing the work, going on a couple missions every now and then, and finally coming home at night and falling into your arms."

"Whose to say we can't still do that?" His hand crept a little lower, causing a slight smile to form on her lips.

"So tired." She closed her eyes and snuggled down a little more.

"I know what you mean, though, uh, it's been since the weekend."

"I know, baby. That's why I want to get away so bad, just to put all this stuff away, just for a little bit, where all I have to worry about…well, so I don't have anything to worry about." She noticed movement in his pants, though lower than she was expecting. A moment later, Rufus popped out of his cargo pocket and went scampering down the hall. "I think somebody thinks we're about to get frisky."

"Either that, or the half a reuben he had for lunch is going through him. You know what pastrami does to him."

"Ronnie?"

"What, KP?"

"I think we're alone now." Her leg drifted up over his lap as her hand went up to his cheek, to pull him in for a long, soft kiss.

"Rufus does seem to have a sixth-sense about this sort of thing, doesn't he?" Ron breathed as certain parts of their clothing started disappearing. Kim giggled slightly when she realized he was still having trouble unhooking a bra that fastened in the front. The regular kind he picked up on pretty quickly, but those little plastic clips down in the middle gave him fits.

Kim was about to give up on his fumbling big fingers and unfasten it herself when the doorbell rang. She put her forehead down on his shoulder, her hands still on his freshly undone belt buckle. "Oh please, go away, this is our time." She said softly.

Whoever was at the door switched to knocking, being rather insistent at it.

"Go away, we're having…we're about to have…" She said a little louder.

Ron rolled his eyes and squeezed out from under her, grabbing his shirt. He gave her a meaningful glance and she started putting her blouse back on, looking much more than mildly put off. "There's always tonight." He softly suggested, making sure his clothes were fastened.

The knocking started again just as Kim finished buttoning her top. Ron was just as tweaked as she was at the interruption, but he stood less chance of actually biting somebody's head off if it turned out to be something like a Pixie Girl selling muffins. Kim tucked her blouse in and gave him a nod, the anger still evident in her green eyes.

He stopped at the door and looked out the peep-hole. He glanced back at his fiancé, rolling his eyes, mouthing the words "It's your mother." Soundlessly. Kim's own eyes shot to the top of their sockets.

"Hi, Mom P." He said, finally opening the door. He still often had the habit of calling her Mrs. Dr. P, or just Dr. P. from time to time, but he was finally getting tired of her correcting him. It was bad enough that he wouldn't just simply call her 'Mom,' but that was what he called his own mother and felt it would just be too confusing.

"Mom! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by to see my kids. I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

"As a matter of fact, we were…" Kim started, until Ron cut her off.

"We were just about to change clothes so we could go out to dinner." He smiled, and held it, even though he noticed Kim's blouse was buttoned crooked.

Anne either didn't notice, or simply kept her mouth shut (which was by far the more probable) "Why don't you kids go right ahead and we'll all go out for something. It'll be my treat."

"O..kay." Kim grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him into the hall.

"I don't like this." She said plainly

"Oh, come on. It's not like your mother has psychic powers. There was no way she could have known we were going to have a little afternoon delight."

"That's not what I'm saying. Why would she be 'in the neighborhood? She's up to something."

"Like what? Kim, she's your Mom. If she wants to see us, she doesn't need to make up an excuse to drive over here."

"I'm willing to bet this is because I flaked on that wedding planner thing." She shut the bedroom door behind her, frowning as she realized the mistake she made with her top. "A wedding planner! I don't need a wedding planner, I can plan it all myself. I know what I want and I know how to put it together."

"Kimila, she's just trying to help. Look how much stuff you have to do, and it's only going to get worse before it gets better."

"But it's my wedding." She whined, a little louder than she meant to.

"News flash, KP, it's mine too, and for that matter, it's the only one your mother is going to be able to do since you're her only daughter."

Kim put her hands on her hips, her blouse half undone. "If she wants to play that game, she can wait until Joss gets ready to tie the knot. She hasn't had a mother since she was a little kid, so she deserves it."

Ron slipped on a pair of casual slacks, complete with a Rufus pocket. "Have you considered how your Mom feels about this? I think she's looking forward to it."

"Well, if she wants to help me plan it, then fine. I just don't need some stranger coming in and mucking with the works, telling me I can do this and I can't do that. Like I said, Ron, it's my wedding we're talking about here. I'm the bride, it's going to be my special day. If I want the place decked out in two shades of pink, I'll do it. If I want to wear a white dress, even though I'm not a virgin, I'm going to do it."

"Tell me one thing." Ron said as he buttoned a long-sleeve dress shirt.

"What?" Kim put on a slightly dressier blouse and went to rooting through the closet for a pair of slacks to go with it, still not being one to wear skirts or dresses all that often.

"What is the big plan you have for _our_ wedding?" he sat down on the bed and crossed his arms, looking at her through the open closet doors.

"Whatta ya mean what is my plan?"

"Just that? You said you have this vision in your mind about what it's going to be. I guess that means it's just like in the tenth grade and you had that dance all planned out in your head. Must be a good plan, since you managed to put the whole thing together in just under a minute when you were wearing those shoes. Go ahead, illuminate me? Maybe you've got this notion all the groomsmen and me will be wearing Nehru jackets or something, or maybe I'll be wearing my mission gear. I could wear my black battle-suit, you could wear the old white one."

"Enough, okay. No, I haven't planned any of the little details yet. Honey, it's not even Christmas yet. I figure we've got all winter after the holidays, then into the spring to plan it."

He finally took his eyes off her to put on his nicer everyday shoes. Like any man, he only had a few pairs. The nice, dressy ones he wore to Temple or church, his mission boots, his old battered white sneakers, and a pair of brown in-between shoes he wore on most of their dates, unless the called for real dressing up.

"We're getting married in July."

"Yes. That was your idea, getting married on the fourth so you wouldn't forget when our anniversary was."

He smiled at her. There was another reason for picking that date, but it really was funny thinking about it that way. Anniversaries were really big with her, like the date of their junior prom, or that September day when they first met over seventeen years ago. It was likely when February rolled around she would want to celebrate a certain event from that month, though it seemed the celebrated that all the time anyway.

"Most women want to get married in June. Don't know why exactly, but you always hear about a June bride."

"Uh huh. I wanted to get married in June, but I decided to go along with you on that. So?"

"So, we're going to get so wrapped up in this last year of school we're going to wake up one morning and it's going to be June. Now, I don't know about you, but I know for a fact we're going to have all kinds of Stoppables and Rokowskis coming around first for my graduation from college. You know Mom and Dad, you remember what they were like when I finished high-school. We're not going to get a moment to ourselves for at least a week, maybe more.

"Now add the fact that everybody who is anybody who is involved with weddings is going to be busy as beavers all June. That means we're probably going to have a bunch of trouble trying to line something up. Babe, if we don't play our cards right, we're both going to need some of those silly red shoes to get everything done in time."

Kim sat down beside him, putting the side of her head on his shoulder. "I know you're right. It just seems so…impersonal to have somebody plan it for us."

"Then do it yourself, or better yet, team up with Mom P and the both of you can do it. Maybe if you do that, she'll back down about this planner guy."

"Okay."

"Now, finish getting dressed, I'm hungry."

"I am too, but it wasn't so much for food."

"Hey, it's not like your Mom's gonna be around all night. Tell you what. We come back home tonight and we can do this right. Light a few candles, take a nice long bath together, et cetera, et cetera."

Kim nuzzled the tip of his nose. "I like how you think, Ronnie."

_Just so long as the blasted Kimmunicator doesn't go off the moment I shut off the water_, she thought with a wry expression.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	12. Chapter 12

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 12**

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Kim remembered it being a good bit easier the last time.

However, that particular 'last time' she had been sixteen, under the control of an emotion controlling microchip and, most importantly, wearing underwear that would not get her in trouble if her Mom found it in her drawer, though at the time it was only because she had not yet been seeking advice from Monique about what intimate apparel to wear under her short black dress.

Wearing the same dress, wearing something only Ron and the lady behind the checkout counter at _Alexandria's Confession_ were ever supposed to see (and only the latter was to see it actually on her) was _so_ the distraction when she was trying to do a hand-spring over a trio of hulking goons. Under the Moodulator, she didn't care if anyone caught a glimpse of a pair of black cotton bikinis. As a grown woman fully in control of her faculties, she couldn't help but worry that one of the men she was fighting might get an eyeful if the clingy black number decided to ride up a little too far. It wasn't like her old cheerleader uniform, with the bloomers underneath that were meant to be seen.

She threw a punch where she would have normal used a roundhouse kick, though it connected with a satisfying crack, sending him reeling back into his companions.

By all rights, Kim should have been majorly tweaked. She had already asked the gathering of goons if they knew just how hard it was to get reservations at L'Orange, especially on a Friday night. That was a given, and yes, she was rather furious that they had only had time to be seated and for their drinks to be served. She had just had a taste of the wine when her brand-new, much more decorative looking wrist-Kimmunicator went off. Ron shot her a look that asked just why she had it on at all, but Joss and her brothers were on the other side of the planet responding to a crisis there, leaving her basically on-call, carefully planned romantic dinner or not.

A little voice in her head kept telling her she was supposed to be angry. It seemed like every time she wanted to be romantic with Ron, something came up, and not in a good way, like their old 'interuptus' curse was back in full effect. Dinner with her mother droned on for what seemed like half the night, ending with a shopping trip that definitely could have gone better. Her Mom knew that Ron really didn't like shopping, though he tagged along like a trooper while the two women looked at just about every piece of women's clothing in Middleton Mall. By the time they got back to their apartment, their other plans were pretty much shot. They were both dead on their feet and it was almost a miracle they managed to even kiss each other goodnight before falling into a deep-deep sleep.

The weekend didn't turn out much better. The moment they got home from Temple, Kim's Mom was right over there again to drag Kim off to look at bridesmaid dresses. Ron was pretty much ecstatic that he couldn't be included in that portion of the wedding preparations and quickly made himself scarce by finding his friend Paul to hang out.

By Sunday evening, after dealing with yet another 'crisis' in Joss' love-life, Kim was actually starting to wonder if she remembered what it was like to do something in the bed with Ron except simply sleeping.

Then, that Monday, as if she wasn't having a hard enough time with a rather rough time-of-the-month, the waste matter really hit the oscillating air mover at school. In the blink of an eye, three weeks had come and gone, leaving her to wonder if they had actually even happened. It wasn't a pure drought for the two of them, but it was a huge change from what she had come to appreciate over that last summer of freedom. It felt like they had to steal a few moments of tenderness and even that made them feel slightly guilty, as if they were shortchanging their responsibilities simply to be together.

That was why the voices kept insisting she should be infuriated by missing their dinner, which was supposed to be a prelude to a night set aside just for them, with everyone she could think of warned that there would be no shopping trips, no meetings with fashion school rejects trying to pass themselves off as wedding planners, no weepy sit-downs with moopy teens about whether they should take things to the next level. It was supposed to be a night just like they had that first week of the semester, where they would almost have to sleep clear to lunch time the next day to recover from loss of sleep and extreme fatigue.

Instead, the part of her mind in control told those voices where they could stick it. Despite the fact she was not only in danger of giving the bad guys a little show, but was also endangering her beloved little black dress, she was actually having fun.

The same thing could be said for Ron. He managed to whine and complain about missing out on their meal the whole ride from Upperton, back to the Space Center, but once they were in the mix, he had the same confident grin on his face as he Monkey Kung-fued his way through a pack of thugs who might once have considered trying to get work with Doctor Drakken. They certainly weren't up to the caliber of Henchco, though they did have the advantage of numbers

That advantage was being whittled away quickly by the two. Some of them even looked a bit surprised that Ron was actually putting up as much fight as his fiancé, though, truth be told, he was having to take up a bit of slack since Kim wasn't throwing herself fully into the fight.

"How many times have I told you, we need a spare set of mission clothes in the car?" Kim growled as she round-housed a goon into a window. She snarled a little louder when she realized it was shatter-proof glass. It just wasn't quite as satisfying seeing them bounce off, though it wasn't quite as dangerous that way. At least the Space Center wouldn't be hit up for replacing yet another window. The dozen of so men who had broken in managed to get into the security system before Ron and Kim could get there, and had locked the whole complex down, forcing them to use a laser scalpel she happened to have in her purse to cut through a window at ground level.

Ron ducked a massive arm, arching his back over so he landed on his hands. His feet came up, using his momentum, catching the thug square in the chin. Ron did a handspring, landing on his feet a good ten feet away from his attacker. The big man wavered there for a few seconds, then collapsed to the ground.

"Hey, KP, that move finally worked!"

"Head in the game, baby."

"Oh, Rondo came to play. Just speak for yourself, KP. You're holding back."

"That's why I said we need mission clothes. I'm so not screwing this dress up like my prom dresses." She gave an advancing bruiser a quick kick straight to the jaw, dropping him so fast he never got a chance to see that barely there black lace, or anything it wasn't doing a very good job of concealing.

"We did have some in the car, but we wore them last week. Remember, when those guys tried stealing those big earth-movers from that construction site in Georgia? I'm still trying to get those red-mud stains out of our turtlenecks." Ron slid between the legs of a large, snarling man, kicking backwards as he rose up, catching him in the back of the neck. "Hey, KP, why do I get the sudden urge to say 'watch this?'"

"I think you spent too much time listening to that comedian we saw while we were down south." Kim vaulted over one of the few remaining goons and caught one of the ceiling supports, flipping herself even higher. She came down, feet first, catching the fighter's companion in the shoulder and bringing him crashing to the ground. Kim dropped into a tumble herself rather than land on her feet. She didn't really like fighting barefoot, but it was better than ruining a hundred dollar pair of heels that could actually be considered a deadly weapon in their own right.

The law of averages finally caught up with Ron, who took a pretty good sock the head. He staggered backwards slightly, obviously seeing stars. 

"Yeah, I remember the rest of that joke now, Honey." She said wryly, judging him to be fundamentally okay, though he was likely to have a black eye after that. "'Hey, watch this' is usually followed close by a very painful crash." Kim decided to cause a crash of her own. She might have been somewhere between a hundred-five to a hundred-ten pounds, but she was incredibly strong, plus she knew exactly how to use an opponent's own weight to her advantage. She grabbed the goon and sent him flying, straight for the one who just tagged her lover.

"Okay." Kim dusted her hands off a she surveyed the wreckage of their brief battle. Just over a dozen men lay moaning or unconscious around them. "Go untie the guards and call the police."

"You okay if any of them wake up?" Ron asked, rubbing the side of his face.

"Just fine. In fact, I intend to do a little waking up of my own here."

It wasn't hard to tell which one was the leader. He was a smaller man than the rest, though he was still almost as big as Kim and Ron put together. He was also the only one with a throat mike, while the rest simply had ear-pieces. If anyone were to know the most, it would likely be the one giving the orders.

Kim went over toward the hallway where she had shucked her high-heeled shoes and dropped her purse in order to fight the baker's dozen of thugs. She came back to the unconscious man and hauled him up by his dark blue turtleneck. He was wearing non-descript dark cloths and the ubiquitous dark glasses favored by the rent-a-goon types, but hadn't gone the extra bit of wearing a full hood. He apparently wasn't too interested in concealing his identity. That either meant he was confident in his skills, or traveled in circles where anonymity was not as important. It was a rather curious thing about old Drakken's men, as they would take their hoods off and go home to wives and families after a day of assisting the one-time megalomaniac in taking over the world.

She opened her purse and took out a small vial. It used to prove quite handy having old-fashioned smelling salts, especially when Ron would faint at the drop of a hat. It was also proving useful in gleaning some useful information from the man before the police showed up to haul him away.

The man sputtered slightly as she waved the foul-smelling liquid under his nose. His eyes quickly focused on the angry-looking redhead kneeling in front of him.

"I think you know the drill." She said confidently, standing up so she would have the upper hand if he tried anything.

The man blinked twice, as if he was expecting to see someone else. The moment was fleeting, the man just crossing his arms in front of him without saying a word. Finally, a small smile formed on his brutish face.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your little dinner-party?"

"Oh, the evening is pretty young yet. There's all sorts of things a lady like myself might do. Let me see, it's going to take the police about fifteen minutes to get here in force, give or take. Might be a little longer if Ron has trouble untying the guards, though he's not too bad in that department, what, with all the times he's had to untie me before."

She scowled as the smile turned into a smirk. "Don't even think it. We don't do kinky." She snarled. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. Maybe you don't know me, or maybe you just don't realize that I'm pretty well known to the police, and I think they like me pretty well. I also happen to know the Captain of the watch tonight just happens to be an old friend of mine, Captain Hobble, and if he shows up and you and your men aren't too comfortable, he's not likely to say a word."

"You don't have it in you, Miss Goody-two-shoes."

"Oh really?" The question came out of her mouth as a feline snarl. The man suddenly got a good, up-close view of just how green Kim's eyes actually were. "Maybe you weren't paying proper attention, but I was on a date with my fiancé, who just happened to cash in a very hard-won favor to get us a table at the most exclusive restaurant in Upperton, not going to a dinner party, not to mention I had to come take care of this in Ron's favorite dress, a dress I had to do a ton of babysitting to buy and had to keep hidden from my father until I was old enough to wear it out on a date." She grabbed him by the collar and shoved him up against the wall easily lifting him from a seated position. "Now, you can be a good boy and tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to show you how fiery a redhead can actually be."

A bead of sweat that had nothing to do with his recent exertion, trickled down his forehead, threatening to run under his mirrored glasses and into his eye. Kim kept her own eyes focused on those lenses, boring straight though them to the tough's eyes. Her fingers tightened on his collar, enough so he could feel it without cutting off his breathing any.

"Okay, look, we just do contract work. I've got a regular guy who lines up the work and tells us what we need to know to get the job done. He gets us our money fair-and-square and we don't ask him what it's about. That's all."

"What was the job?" She asked coolly.

"We was just supposed to bust in here and find room 4242 and bust up the works, that's all. I don't know what's in there or why somebody wants it wrecked. It ain't my job, nor is it our guy's. All that means is somebody wanted that stuff broke and had enough money to get it done."

Kim let him go as she slumped partway down the wall. "You get that, Wade?"

"Sure thing, Kim. Doesn't make a lot of sense, though. 4242's a lab, but it's not dedicated to a priority project right now. I don't get to that part of the building very often, but the only thing I can recall being in there was some old equipment that dates back to the Frederick project. It's been over five years since he came back to Earth and most of that hardware is seriously outdated now."

"I don't like this. Soon as the police are here, I'm going to take a look in there myself."

"Go right ahead, Kim. I don't even have to arrange special higher clearances for you or Ron to get in there, since you're there at the director's request."

Kim frowned at her friend's holographic image as half a dozen guards rushed into the room, securing the goon squad with handcuffs and heavy zip-ties. The frown faded as soon as Ron came back into the area. It was still early, so once all of this was wrapped up they could at least enjoy part of their evening. The table at _L'Orange_ might have been gone, but when it came to good food, she was just as happy with a thick, medium-rare steak as she was with the haute cuisine the other place served at three times the cost. They were a little overdressed for the Texas roadhouse style place they liked out by the interstate, but they weren't going to be turned away either, plus the place liked to turn their tables over quickly, so they would be able to get back home and enjoy the other planned part of the evening. Rufus was going to spend the night over at Wade's, they had some nice music, lots of candles and she had a little something extra she picked up at her favorite lingerie store, something tiny and flimsy and almost invisible.

"The police are coming, KP The head security guy said they can handle it from here, what say you and me blow this joint."

"I think you read my mind." She took a moment and slipped her shoes back on. Fortunately, it was a fairly warm evening, so she had forgone any kind of hose, since it was pretty obvious they wouldn't have survived the battle.

Thinking about the recent melee, she stopped Ron and took a look at his eye. He winced slightly at her touch, though nothing was visible yet. It was a good thing his head seemed to be so tough.

"I'm okay, Kim. He just rung my bell a little bit. Just a lucky shot."

She leaned over and gave his cheekbone a light kiss, just below where the bruise would be forming by morning. "I'm so proud of you. You didn't even scream once during the fight."

He just grinned and shrugged his shoulders as they made their way back out to the lot where they left the Cruiser. "I can scream if you want me to."

"Hush, baby. That can come later. I'm hungry right now…for food."

Ron looked confused for a moment and she wondered if his bell had gotten rung harder than she thought. The expression passed as his mind clicked into gear. "Oh, eh, hehe." He pulled at the tabbed collar of his dress shirt as his cheeks flushed slightly. "Not the kind of screaming I was talking about there. Not like I'm the one to do that anyway." That made it Kim's turn to blush. "I mean, if you needed a distraction, I can always pretend I'm running for my life, screaming like a girl."

"You were pretending?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Not all the time." He replied, a little too defensively. He stopped at the car and, being dressed for dinner, actually opened the door for her, taking time to look longingly at her long, muscular legs, and making sure she noticed him noticing those legs. She gave him a huge smile as he shut the door and went around the other side. He almost perfectly anticipated what was next. As he climbed in and shut his own door, she pulled him in for a long kiss, like the ones they used to share when they went parking out at the bluff when they were younger.

"You know, Kim, maybe you should find some more dresses like that. It's sure distracting, especially when you go up against guys like that back there. Almost too distracting, if you know what I mean."

"I am so not going into a fight wearing a party dress if I don't have to, and I'm certainly not going to do it with these on." With the door of the car screening her, she hitched up the dress slightly so he could see the narrow bit of lace there.

Ron gulped slightly, thoughts of food momentarily banished from his mind. "Uh, well, uh, er."

"The next words out of your mouth were supposed to be 'where would you like to get dinner?'"

"Uh, lemme try something." He put his fingers on this forehead and closed his eyes like he was concentrating. "I'm picking up something."

"Ron, you know that doesn't work here on Earth. We've been trying since we got back." Somehow, when they were in space, they briefly had the power to communicate with their minds, but the moment they got home, it simply vanished, right along with the other powers Ron was supposed to have. The whole thing was starting to feel like a half-remembered dream.

"It's working, KP. I can see it in your mind, you want a twelve-once sirloin filet, medium-rare with steamed veggies and a caeser salad."

Kim gave his leg a squeeze. "Yep, it's working alright. Now, are you going to drive us there so we can wait for a table, or are we going to sit in this parking lot all night long and wonder when we're getting home so you can see the rest of my lingerie?"

Ron put the car in gear very quickly, leaving about one hundred miles worth of rubber in the parking lot.

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A slender, feminine figure watched from the shadows on the roof of the main Space Center building. She held a small device up in her gloved hands and reviewed a number of pictures she had taken. The distraction worked perfectly. Team Possible never even suspected she was there.

Satisfied, she put the device in to a hidden pocket, turned…

…and vanished.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	13. Chapter 13

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 13**

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The soft glow of the touch lamp on Kim's nightstand was the first indication she had dozed off before she intended to. Her back was propped up on a stack of four pillows and the textbook she had been highlighting was still open on her lap, the highlighter pen probably halfway to drying out completely by then. Almost automatically she snapped the cap back onto it, put the book on her nightstand and touched it a couple times to shut it off. Groaning slightly she threw two of the pillows onto the floor and fluffed the remaining ones as she pulled the covers up on her shoulders. Ron liked to sleep with the extra pillows, turning them every which way under his head, but she always seemed to get a bit of a stiff neck when she fell asleep with any more than her one large one, and a rather worn out, flat one she put her head directly on.

Even though she was quite tired and managed to read herself to sleep, her eyes managed to snap wide open in the darkened room. Something was out of kilter, something she couldn't put her finger on at first. It wasn't her weirdar feeling, but something less critical, just enough that it was keeping her from falling back to sleep.

No matter. There was something that always helped her fall asleep. Rolling to her right, she reached for Ron. Even if his back was to her, she could snuggle up against him and even if that didn't relax her enough to drift off she could just enjoy being up against him. Her Pandaroo had long been relegated to a spot of honor on their desk, since she had something considerably larger to cuddle in the night. It also helped he was so warm, since the late October nights had turned chilly.

All her arm found were cool, empty covers.

Her eyes snapped open again. She had been so drowsy when she switched off the light she didn't even realize he wasn't there at the time. That was what was wrong with her, that was why she couldn't sleep. When they had come back from their adventure in space the previous winter, Kim spent the first couple nights back in her old room sleeping alone. Or, more accurately, she spent those nights staring at the ceiling, missing the man who had been her bedmate the entire time they were gone. They had shared beds before, but she was always able to get back to sleep without him afterwards. At first she thought it was nothing more than wanting to fulfill the strong desire she had for him that left her restless those nights, but eventually she realized they had turned another corner in their relationship. They needed to be together, not just during the day at school, or the evenings when they would go on their dates, or even the times they could go away for a couple nights. Sharing the bed every night, not just on special occasions or emergencies that sometimes cropped up, was something she both wanted and needed.

It simply did not feel right to sleep alone.

Kim slipped out of the bed, glad that their apartment was mostly carpeted. She had on her usual nightshirt; one of Ron's old red jerseys and a pair of sweat-pants, but after a couple really cool nights, they were discovering the heat in their otherwise comfortable and well-appointed apartment left a little something to be desired. By winter they were probably going to have to invest in an electric space-heater, or at least pile on comforters and snuggle most of the time. She also had a long, flannel nightgown that her Nana had sent her a couple winters back, but she was loath to wear it, preferring something a little sexier, or at least more practical. After years of answering her Kimmunicator in the middle of the night, she knew it paid to be wearing something she wouldn't have to worry about being seen in.

She scratched her sleep-tousled hair, yawning slightly as she made her way toward the den. It was fairly easy to do so, since the lights were still on.

Ron was sitting cross-legged on the floor at their coffee table. The round surface was almost completely covered by his assorted notes. He barely looked up from his work as she padded into the room, sitting down behind him on the couch and rubbing his shoulders.

"Ronnie, it's after two in the morning. Don't you think it's time to get some sleep?"

"Just wanted to get Snyder's homework done. Man, I thought Barkin would load me down with stuff."

"Baby, you think you'd know better by now. If you'd go ahead and get this stuff done right when he assigns it, you wouldn't be in panic mode like this. As it is, you're going to end up sleeping through half your classes tomorrow." She looked at some of his notes. If Ron had done better in math and science, he would certainly be qualified to be a doctor. His handwriting could only be legible to him, or perhaps a skilled pharmacist. "Figures he'd still be loading his classes up with stuff. You do know he used to be Barkin's CO in the marines?"

"Yeah. Actually, this stuff isn't due until next week, but once I got into it, I want to get it finished."

Kim suddenly sat up straight. "Wait a minute. You mean to tell me this stuff isn't due for almost a week? And you're working on it this late at night?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Who are you and what have you done with Ron? Do I need to go get a pin and stick it in you to see if you're a synthodrone?" She laughed slightly, going back to rubbing his shoulders. His muscles seemed unusually tense, something she had noticed a lot lately.

"I've just got to stay on top of this. I can't afford to get behind, especially if something big comes up." She wasn't sure, but she thought he was actually closing his eyes, enjoying her kneading.

"Ron, getting ahead's a good idea, but not at the expense of making yourself sick or wearing you out. Who used to warn me about burning the candle at both ends?"

"This is different. I was telling you to cut back on the extra stuff. This here's the main event, the big one, the main course, so to speak. I need to keep my head above water so I won't let you down the next time."

She was slightly taken aback by that statement. "What do you mean letting me down? You've never done that. You've done some really stinky things to me, but letting me down? I can apply something I said about myself once. You're not programmed that way."

Ron leaned back, resting his head on the edge of the couch between her knees. Her hands let go of his shoulders and started gently kneading his large ears, something that could alternately put him straight to sleep, or drive him wild, depending on the circumstances. Instead, he let out a long breath.

"KP, I did let you down, and I may just be letting you down in a whole lot of other ways."

"Ron, if this is about when I went to check out Danika…"

"Yes, yes it is about that, and more. You got beat and it was only because the two of you were really on the same team that it turned out okay in the end."

"I told you that was okay. Really, honey, it's no big. She just had some new toys I wasn't expecting."

"No, it's not okay, and it really wasn't okay then either. Kim, I love you for all the world, but sometimes you let stuff like that get to you too much. You don't like losing and it showed for a couple weeks. You were a grumpy monkey there for a while. All because I didn't have your back."

"Ron, you said yourself you had to be here to take that test. You can't go on every single mission. I was the one in the wrong, I should have waited until we both could go."

He shook his head, slouching his shoulders slightly. "No, there was no way in the world you were going to stay home that night. You got it in your head you were going and that was it. You are Kim."

"Don't get started on the 'Kimness' thing. I know how important your schoolwork is to you now, especially since we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel."

"If that light isn't a train."

Kim pulled his head back again, playing with his hair. "Seems to me that train turned out to be you and Rufus when that actually happened. Okay, so I was majorly put out by getting my biscuit kicked by her. I got over it."

"But what if she had been the one who broke into that lab? What if she'd done more than used that im-whatever-ray thingy on you?"

"She didn't, so it's all water under the bridge now." She got up and started stacking up his papers. "Now, since this isn't due until later, you can put this up and get some sleep. If something big comes up, we'll catch up together. We always have."

Ron put his hand on top of hers, stopping her as she tried gathering the papers. "It's not that easy this time. I've got to do better, or all this work will be for nothing."

"What are you talking about?"

"KP, I know you know something's been bugging me."

"Well, yeah. I figured it couldn't be too bad, since you haven't told me, so I gave you your space."

He got up onto the couch, sitting back in the futon cushion, covering his face with both hands. "It's bad, and what's worse, I haven't quite figured out how to tell you."

Kim finished stacking his papers and sat down on the table across from him. "Okay, spill." She crossed her arms, starting to get a little perturbed with him.

Not knowing what else to do, he launched into a lengthy explanation of what his guidance counselor had told him. She listened to the whole thing, not speaking until he was done.

Finally, she looked him right in the eye, making him shrink slightly lower in his seat. "Pardon my French, Ron, but somebody is full of shit."

"I'm not making any of this up, KP."

"I didn't say you were. What I am trying to say is that this new GC of yours is completely full of it. You're passing every one of your courses. Yeah, you had a tough go of it catching up last semester, but you did. It doesn't matter that you squeaked by with a couple of bare Cs, they were still passing grades. I don't know where he's getting all of this utter junk about expectations or anything, but as far as getting your degree is concerned, you have met all of your goals so far. In the end it's just simple math. You pass all your courses, you get a degree. It's as simple as that. The only judges you have to face are your individual professors. Now, if they wanted to tell you that you weren't meeting their expectations, that's one thing. Your GC's only job is to sign off on your course selections so you are meeting your goals. That's it."

"I don't know, Kim. I am in a different course. It's almost like we're going to two separate schools on the same campus."

"It's still a degree from Middleton College. As far as the special culinary school stuff, you're almost done with that, with all As I might add. Honey, either he's trying to play some kind of stupid mind-game with you, or he's just trying to pad his success ratio to get tenure or something."

Ron visibly relaxed a bit, rubbing his face once more. "I was so worried you were gonna be tweaked with me."

Kim's arms remained crossed. "Who said I wasn't tweaked? Ron, I'm beyond tweaked. I'm even beyond angry with you. I'm disappointed, and that's so worse than being angry. I thought we were past all this, past keeping stuff like this from each other."

"But it was my work…"

"Ron, none of that is just your work. Who do you think busted her butt to help you finish high school on time? Who spend all those long evenings teaching you how to study properly, reading all those papers for errors the spell-check didn't catch? Who is supposed to be you partner for life in everything? Ron, you just don't keep secrets like that. If you had just come out and told me I would have helped you, just like that, and yes, I would have put off heading for the east coast until after your test. Don't you ever think I'm going to put what I want ahead of what's good for you, which is in turn good for the both of us, again!" Her voice went up steadily as her diatribe went on.

"KP, that mission's important to you."

"Not as important as you. Don't you get that? Ron, all that crap about my natural Kimness, I was fifteen. I had a lot more to learn than I ever dreamed I did. Honey, you, my family, my friends, all of you are more important to me than any mission. That's what it means to love somebody. I'd give everything up about Team Possible in an instant if that's what it takes."

"I…I'm sorry, Kim. I just kinda froze up about it. I thought you'd be angry and disappointed, that I didn't live up to your expectations and all."

She stood up, balling up her fists, tears starting to come from her eyes. "What part about 'I love you' don't you understand? I don't care if you graduate with honors, or if you were still getting an F minus in chem. I loved you when you were a complete slacker. That doesn't change anything except for the fact I know you did all that because you love me. I love you, Ron Stoppable, and nothing can change that! Can't you get that through your thick blonde-headed skull of yours?"

"I'll…go talk to Dr. Dubois in the morning and try to clarify some things. Maybe I'll see if I can get an appointment with the dean."

"You do that." Kim said quietly as she paced the den.

"KP, I…"

"Don't KP me, Ron. This hurts. It hurts because you don't trust me, you don't trust us…and yes! It did hurt going on that mission without you. It did hurt because you weren't there at my side. I admit that! I want you to be with me, just like I wanted you with me just now in bed. Everything about my world is about you and me. I know its not healthy or wise, but that's just the simple fact. You're a part of me and it makes me feel like I'm not when you exclude me. I told you before, I wouldn't be able to save the world without you. I can't live without you. Can you even begin to understand how much it hurts hearing this stuff from you, how much it hurts since I assumed you learned your lesson about it the last time."

"Hey, I'm not the one who took off my rings and flung them at me." He blurted out. Ron knew the instant he opened his mouth it was perhaps the worst thing he could say, but the words just tumbled out on their own.

Kim shook in fury for a few moments. "How dare you?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Yes you did mean it. If you didn't, you wouldn't have been thinking it. You wouldn't have said it." She pointed a slim finger at the couch. "I think you know where you're going to be sleeping tonight."

"I thought you wanted me to come to bed."

"I did, until you said that. Ron, that was one of the lowest moments of my whole life. I was wrong when I did that, more wrong than I've ever been in my life, but I thought that was behind us, but no, it's not, is it? The moment you think you've done something wrong you just throw that back in my face. I said I was sorry, and I meant it. I guess you never really accepted that, did you?" She turned on her heels and stomped back toward the bedroom, slamming the door so hard it made the whole apartment shake.

Ron didn't think he could sink any further in the couch, but he was wrong. He felt small, smaller than he had in a long time. Then he started doing something he hardly ever did…

…he actually started crying.

It wasn't the whining, bawling kind of crying he did when he was paralyzed by fear, it was a quiet sobbing as real tears washed down his face. It was the kind of crying he had done when he got home, behind the closed door of his bedroom the night he saved Kim's life from Drakken's Aurora Orchid serum, after seeing her go off with Josh Mankey. It was the kind of crying he did when he realized the Spirit Week dance was over and he was left locked in that janitor's closet alone.

It was the kind of crying he did that night after Kim left his treehouse with Erik.

He sat there for a few moments, trying to think, trying to come up with some way he could make things better, wishing there was some way he could turn back the clock and stop himself from saying what he did. Moments later he was up and barely made it to the kitchen sink before what little was actually in his stomach by that point came up.

Operating purely on automatic, he cleaned the sink up and washed his face before turning off the light and heading back to the couch. He pulled the blanket that served as an afghan off and curled up in it, fresh tears still spilling down his face.

He wasn't the only one weeping. Kim didn't make it to the bed. Somehow the thought of getting into the huge queen-size alone was just too horrible to her. Instead, she sank down in the puffy blue chair she had brought from her old room.

Her logical mind was telling her he really didn't mean it, but the words still hurt. Ron meant well. He protected her any way he could, even if he was wrong in doing so. He had been protecting her from a horrible evil then, and he was protecting her from himself now. He really could be stupid about that sort of thing sometimes, but that was just Ron being Ron. He wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack sometimes, but his intentions were pure. It wasn't selfishness that prompted him to do it, it was his own misguided attempts to show just how much he loved her.

From the chair she could see the alarm clock glowing softly on her nightstand. Somehow it creeped to 3 am, though it only felt like ten minutes to her. She looked back toward the door she had nearly ripped right off its frame and felt a little sick to her stomach. She hadn't been fair to him. What he needed now was love and guidance. He needed her "Kim-shine" every bit as much as she needed his "Ron-shine."

Getting up, she picked her old plush doll up from the desk, clutching it to her breast tightly. She stood there bathed in the soft glow of the desk-top computer, thinking oddly that it was about time for her Kimmunicator to go off, to send her out into the night to help somebody.

That made her think about where they were, what was going on in their lives. Taking credit for Ron's success in school the past few years really was a selfish thing for her to say. It wasn't fair, and she somehow had to admit he actually was right. She had come to expect so much from him, and maybe that was asking more than he was actually capable of giving. Sure, she loved him and his sometimes lackadaisical ways, but she wanted so much more of him, so much more for him, not just so she would have a successful college graduate for a husband the next summer, but because he would make himself a better person.

But it still came back to her. The missions had always defined her, from the moment they began nine years earlier. She was Kim Possible, and she could do anything, and somehow that ended up meaning she could keep doing what she was doing and still fulfill all her responsibilities as an adult.

Did she really mean it when she told him she would drop it all in a minute for him, for both of them? Was it really that important that her whole being centered around the missions? Part of her said yes, since it was always about helping people. There were things she could do, amazing things, but what had it actually become? Was she more about helping people, or about the rush of excitement that came with success?

What would they be in several years if things kept going the way they were? Ron wasn't the only one with a lot to do. Sure, the end was finally in sight, but it was just like the cliché about it always being darkest before dawn. Graduation was only months away, but in the mean time there was just so much to do.

What if something came up, something so important she had to leave all of her schoolwork behind for a few days, a week, even a month? That would mean more than Ron throwing away four and a half years of hard work, that would also mean her throwing it away as well. Could they both make their way in the world as jack-of-all-trades heroes?

She wasn't ready to make a decision, but for the first time she was seriously considering hanging up the equipment belt and turning off the Kimmunicator. Was it time?

There was also the thought that maybe she really couldn't do it without Ron. What if GJ really had been right about the "Ron Factor?" What if she really wasn't all that? Sure, the last few times they had gone out they won easily, but there was that one glaring example of her fight with Danika. It could have been that she was simply out-gunned that night, but what if it was something else? What if it was as simple as her confidence being compromised to the point she couldn't win a fight?

The Pandaroo fell to the floor and she found herself quietly turning the knob and walking out into the hall. The lights were all off but they had been in the apartment long enough she knew where everything was in the dark. Moments later, she found herself at the couch, pulling up the blanket he had covered himself in.

Kim didn't lead Ron back to the bedroom, but simply curled up with him there. He started to speak, but she silenced him with a light touch of her fingertips. Apologies had already been said, but there were other ways to express her bond with him, letting him know just how important their love was to her. Afterwards, she put her head on his chest, holding him tight as she finally fell to sleep in his arms. Classes would be missed in the morning, but they had important things to talk about.

Her missions weren't the defining thing in her life. It was her love for Ron, and they both had to get their priorities in order.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	14. Chapter 14

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 14**

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She was going to be stiff, but she didn't care.

Kim woke up once the sun first hit the large sliding-glass doors that led to their deck, filtering in through the light curtains that afforded them some measure of privacy. From her vantage point she couldn't see the clock in the kitchen nor did she have her watch on, but she assumed it was sometime around seven in the morning, perhaps later. The switch to daylight savings time had been pushed even further back a couple years earlier, making it stay dark later into the morning, but since she decided they would forego their earlier morning classes just this once, she didn't mind. For the most part, both of their professors had been very accommodating to the 'on-call' nature of their lifestyle and would email any assignments, along with some basic notes about what was covered that day if they weren't there. She had more than a slight pang of guilt over taking advantage of that situation for personal reasons, but it really was going to be just that once.

How many times had they fallen to sleep together on the couch at her parent's house? In the light of day it did seem a little silly they had spent the night in the den rather than going back to their bed, but at the time it had seemed natural and right, even though they could have moved the coffee table and pulled the futon off into the floor. It still turned out to be a lot more comfortable to sleep on than the longer, more formal style sofa he parent's owned. It was just large enough for the two of them to stretch out completely, though Ron had his head propped on the arm-rest with one of the larger throw pillows.

She really didn't want to move. Just the way she was, she was actually quite comfortable, though she knew she would be uncomfortable once she actually did get up, at least until she could go through a proper stretching routine to limber up her muscles. More than that, she really liked being held by Ron on the space that was smaller than the twin bed he grew up on. For a time after he 'moved in' with her at her childhood home, they would sleep like that, not even using the whole 'full' bed. The same thing happened once more when their queen-size was delivered to their first apartment.

Maybe that was one of the reasons she had come to him in the den rather than going back to their room. As they had gotten into a regular sleeping routine, they tended to gravitate to their own particular territory in it, Ron always on the right and her on the left if they were lying on their backs watching the smaller television in there. Sometimes it just seemed they needed something to break the 'old married' mold.

The fight only seemed like a distant memory to her as she played with his bangs. Ron was still sleeping soundly, exhausted both by his late-night studying, the fight itself and their making up afterwards. A little smile crept across her lips, thinking about how it actually was true that making up that way really was some of the best, even though it had been short, tender and sweet before both of them were claimed by sleep.

Another reason she wasn't willing to move or to wake him was a sort of fear. She knew they needed to talk, but her mind was still not quite made up what she would say. Was it even _possible_ for her to give up being Kim Possible, world-saving, not-teen-anymore hero to become Kim Stoppable? It wasn't even about the name either. She had long ago decided firmly that she would indeed take his name, both personally and professionally once they were married. He tried convincing her that it was okay to keep her maiden name, especially since that was how everyone knew her, but she was adamant. Becoming a Stoppable was telling the world how much she loved him, how important he was to her. Besides, with her middle name it sounded a little like 'unstoppable.'

That thought just brought her back to the real matter at hand. She was trying to convince herself that retiring from the adventuring was the logical, grown-up thing to do. Funny how she was still trying to decide what being an adult was really about when she thought that was exactly what she was when she was waiting through that last summer before she turned eighteen. Sure, she was able to act mature and responsible when it was required of her, but her heart had to sort a lot of things out in the intervening three years.

On the surface, the decision seemed to be an easy one. Hang up the mission clothes for good, finish college, get married, start behaving like a rational, normal adult. Only there were so many shades of gray involved it left her hesitant to even broach the subject. There was also what Ron would want. In some ways he was just like her cousin Joss, who once told her what she wanted to do was whatever Kim wanted to do. He knew both in his mind and in his heart how much she enjoyed what she did, how much it was a part of her. To him, it was what made her _Kim_, his Kim. He would trade everything in his life for her. How many years had he been just an extension of her, a sidekick, the trusty assistant who always stood to the side, making it possible for her do to the amazing things she did?

When the Rabbi and the Pastor pronounced them man and wife, was he going to consider himself Mr. Ronald Eugene Stoppable, or Mr. Kimberly Anne Possible?

She took comfort in the fact she wasn't going to have to make the decision alone. It really wasn't just hers to make, it was both of them. Sure, Ron could be frightened of so many things, but in the end he enjoyed saving people, sometimes even the world just as much as she did.

Perhaps she was just over-thinking things. Maybe the real answer was just taking a break, finishing up the hectic final months of college, then they could go back to what they did before. She would be a full-time graduate student, but that wouldn't take up nearly as much time as her current studies. Ron would probably have some function with the Bueno Nacho corporation, perhaps some ceremonial function that was specified in the deal his father had made with them several years earlier. It took all his will-power not got get big-headed over having his face on posters at the restaurants and on their frozen food boxes. Maybe the "Naco-Man" would be able to go back to saving the world when all was said and done.

Be that as it may, she though she might just be fooling herself. What they did was unique and it wasn't quite like they could flip a switch off, then back on again. It was like catching lightning in a bottle. If they stepped away, even for a few months, maybe they would never be able to go back again. That thought weighed heavily on her, though if it was true, would it be such a bad thing?

The image of her with a couple children, living like a normal couple and doing good in simpler, quieter ways was very appealing. Even two years earlier she couldn't have comprehended such a thing, but lying with the man who would be her husband in what was really a very short time, in what was their first real home together changed all of that for her.

Maybe that was one of the real steps in growing up.

Her brothers and Joss also made things easier. True, none of them had her degree of fighting skill, but tended to make up for it in other ways. Jim and Tim were actually far more intelligent than she was and would be going to college themselves after completing high-school a year early, on top of acting as members of Team Possible. Joss was every bit as smart as she was and despite her sometimes bone-headed approach to her love-life, she really had a good head on her shoulders. If Kim were to step down, the Team had a good leader ready to take her place.

The room was getting bright enough Ron started stirring. She looked up into his big brown eyes as they fluttered open and smiled at him. He returned the expression for a few moments, remembering first what had happened before they had finally drifted off. With both of their clothing in various piles in the vicinity of the couch, waking up was certainly pleasant for him.

She was about to offer him a good morning kiss when his expression darkened. What came before was slowly returning to him. A few moments later, he extracted himself from her arms and sat up.

Kim sat up beside him, wrapping the blanket around her lean form, slowly rubbing his shoulders as he buried his face in his hands.

"Oh God, Kim. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." His voice sounded like he was on the verge of crying again. It was a sight she didn't often see, and it broke her heart. Ron just wasn't one to cry openly in sorrow.

She slid as close to him as she could get. "Honey, it's okay. You said you were sorry last night and I forgave you. It's behind us now. There's nothing else to bring up about it."

"Yes, there is. I had no right to say that."

"No, Ron, you didn't, but I know why you did. You wanted to lash out at me and I know you'd never, ever intentionally do anything physically to me, so you reached for the only weapons you had. Yes, it hurt to hear you say that, but the hurt is because of how much hurt I did to you then. It's something that happened, and something we're going to have to live with for the rest of our lives."

She turned toward him and took both of his hands, not caring that the blanket fell slightly. The drapes were closed, so none of their neighbors were going to get an unwanted show. "The important thing, baby, is that we are going to deal with it the rest of our lives. You and me, together. We had a fight, and we made up. It's over and done."

Ron leaned over, putting his head on her shoulder. "How can we fight? We're supposed to be like one person, you and me."

"Ron, we've always fought. Normal people fight sometimes. If we didn't, I'd think people would start to say something was really wrong with us. Look, we fought as kids. I even punched your lights out when you started snapping my training bras when I was twelve. You pulled that stunt with Brick when we were fifteen. We argued for days two years ago and now I don't even remember what all that was about. Yes, spiritually we may be one person together, but in the real world, we're two different people." She took his chin. "Hey, look at me. We don't even like the same TV shows. You just about leave the room when I watch _Pals_."

He smiled slightly. "There's only so much of that show I can take. Felix used to call that one blonde a female version of me."

"So not. Ron, she's a space-case. You're not. You're sweet and kind and you are nowhere near as stupid as that woman is, but that's not the point. We're not always going to see eye-to-eye, and we're both going to do some stupid things from time to time. Hey, I'm not the most brilliant person on this earth. I'm the one who just had to go out on a date with Josh when it could have killed me."

"Oh, yeah, bring that up." He did manage a slight smile, telling her he wasn't hurt by the mention of Josh. Of all the guys she once liked or dated, he had somehow become neutral territory, a memory he wasn't jealous of, at least for the most part.

"Sorry." She said anyway. "So, are we okay?"

"Yeah. I just don't want to get into something that could mean losing you."

Kim shook her head. "Don't think that way. You're not losing me, not now, not ever. We're going to have problems, but we need to work together to deal with the problem, not worry that it's going to come between us. Now, there's something to take care of."

"Huh?" He squeaked out until he realized she was reaching for him. The first morning they woke up together when they took their original summer vacation without the rest of the family along, they discovered just how bad morning breath could be, forcing them to rush into the bathroom to scrub their teeth before a proper good-morning kiss. Somewhere along the way, they discovered that it really didn't matter all that much. It wasn't that their breath was any better the moment they first woke up, it was just they didn't care any more.

Kim put a hand on his cheek when she finally broke the kiss. "Why don't we go get a shower, then you can fix us breakfast and we can talk about something."

"I thought you said all this was behind us."

"It is, but it brought up another thing we need to discuss. It's important and it affects both of us."

"What is it?"

Kim nodded toward the bathroom. "This is something we need to be clean and dressed for, not sitting naked in our den."

"Is it about my school work? You sure I'm not in as big a trouble as I thought?"

"Ferociously sure." She stood up, wrapping the blanket around herself as she bent to pick up her night clothes and Ron's shorts and t-shirt.

It finally struck her as strange that she couldn't bring herself to walk around outside of their bedroom in the all-together. Ron obviously didn't have a problem with it, since she was able to appreciate the view of one of his nicer features. Maybe one day she would tell him about the faint freckles on his other cheeks, though he was a bit sensitive about any woman talking about his butt after growing up hearing it from his mother.

They had always enjoyed sharing the shower immensely, and it just wasn't about sex. It was something about how simple and intimate it was, plus she actually felt cleaner when somebody else could scrub her back. Their bathroom was actually smaller than the one she had in her childhood home, but the tub itself was slightly bigger, though it was still a combined tub and shower. Kim was so looking forward to the home they were going to move into shortly after their wedding. The bathroom was custom-designed, with just about everything they could want, from a huge tub, to a grand shower, even separate, personal water closets, something Kim liked privacy for, even where Ron was concerned.

Kim was sitting on the edge of the tub, blotting her long hair with a fluffy towel when she heard the main phone ringing. Ron was still in the shower himself, singing an old Oh Boyz song at the top of his lungs, so she just shook her head, wrapped the towel around herself and went into the den to answer it.

Surprisingly, the caller ID read Thomas Load, Wade's father. Why on earth would he be calling? Then it clicked, all his computers were set up on special, dedicated high-speed connections, but the good old-fashioned land line into his house was still in his father's name.

That made the next question why was Wade calling her on the phone?

"Morning." She said cheerily.

"Kim! I've been calling and calling on the Kimmunicator. Is something wrong?"

"No, I guess I didn't hear it. I took it off yesterday when I got home from school. What's the sitch?"

"Got something new on the MPG case. Wanna see it?"

"Please and thank you. Just give me a minute, I just stepped out of the shower."

Kim quickly slipped into her cocoa colored pants and the teal t-shirt she often wore with them and clicked the on-switch of her web-cam. Since the desktop computer was in their bedroom, having a way to physically deactivate the camera was a comforting feature.

"What you got?"

A grainy picture popped up on the screen. "There's been another break-in at a supposedly secure facility. Here's the most interesting thing about it."

Something fast and dark shot into the center of the screen. Wade froze the picture at a particular moment in the footage.

Kim's hand shot to her mouth. For that one instant, the security camera got a clear picture of the culprit. A second later, Kim let out an audible growl.

"I thought we finally got rid of those things."

Wade held up his hands in the small window. "I don't know what to say, Kim. I can see some definite differences, but that is clearly a Bebe robot."

She studied the picture. The automaton was very similar to the ones she had fought back in her sophomore year, with a couple distinct changes. The 'hair' shaped portion of the head was gone, replaced with a smooth, round dome of metal. The bust-line was also somewhat smaller, as if this time they were trying to ease away from being distinctly feminine, though the overall shape was still the same.

"You're certain that's a Bebe, and not one of those Valkyrie robots Drakken built?"

"The general specs seem closer to the Bebes. I got some sensor readings from the security tapes that indicated it was transmitting on an ultra-low frequency. Drakken built those later robots to act as individuals, without any human emotion so they wouldn't stand a chance of rebelling like the Bebes."

"Do you think we missed their command code somewhere?"

"That's always a possibility, Kim. They could have uploaded it anywhere on the internet, and considering it's a self-aware AI, it could have known to lay low until it felt we weren't looking for it any more, then took steps to reconstitute a drone body."

"Okay, assuming it's…what's wrong, Wade?"

The cocoa-skinned teen had his hands clamped over his eyes. It dawned on her what it was and turned around. Ron had just come in from the shower and was sitting on the bed.

"Ron, hello, on the computer with Wade here."

"Hi Wade!"

Wade kept his hands clamped over his eyes. "I so did not need to see that."

Kim turned the cam so her fiancé was out of frame while he got dressed. "Never mind him. Assuming that really is a Bebe, what were they after?"

"That's what's got me worried. Do you remember Dr. Porter?"

"Vivian Porter? Yeah. She worked with Dad on the Jupiter Project, before she went independent again once congress pulled the funding."

"She's been working at a top-secret government lab. They want her to duplicate both her AI robot and Oliver for military applications. That's the problem, the tech that was stolen involved both."

"Okay, so they're after heavier weapons?" She wondered.

"It's not the weaponry I'm worried about. The Jupiter Robot could be outfitted with just about anything that would fit into it's contracted form, but the real issue is it's artificial intelligence core."

"So the Bebes are looking for another upgrade?"

"That's it, Kim. With an internal mind like that, as opposed to the cruder one Drakken originally designed, they wouldn't need a huge central processor unit like they stole from that mannequin factory. It could be built right into them. Combine that with their interlinked minds, and we may have a bigger problem than the MPG thing."

"You said this had something to do with the Multi-Phasic Portal Generator."

"It does." He touched a key and another image snapped up. It was a close-up of the robot's polished head."

"Okay, black smudgy reflection, so?" Kim cocked her head.

"Watch what happens when I adjust for the angle and curvature of the head." Wade touched another key. The image warped slightly until it took a recognizable shape. It was still indistinct, but it was clear the Bebe was facing a person.

That person was wearing a dark, hooded outfit with distinct bare patches on the belly and arms. This time she could make out the color and pattern of the suit better.

It matched what they had seen when the MPG was stolen.

"You know, Wade, that uniform looks an awful lot like Mego's"

"Except Mego is six-foot-two and at full-size is about twice the mass of whoever that is…and before you say it, that is definitely not his girlfriend, either."

Kim rolled her eyes up in her head, still not believing what Hego told her the last time she saw him at Bueno Nacho headquarters. Of any two people in the universe to get together…

She shoved that thought out of her mind. No, that distinctly was not her. "Can we rule out Danika for sure this time?"

"Already thought of that. I had some time to make some inquiries while I was trying to reach you. GJ's had her under surveillance since you made your report, she's definitely still on the east coast."

"And Vivian's lab is where?"

"LA."

"Then that's where we're starting." She turned to Ron. "Honey, never mind the jeans, go get out battle suits and go wake up Rufus. We're on."

"What about what we had to talk about?" He asked as he quickly went into the closet to open the vault.

"It'll keep." She bit her lower lip. This was the very thing they needed to talk about, but like she said, it would have to keep.

The decision she had to make…that they both had to make, was much, much harder than she thought.

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Jean Stoppable straightened out her skirt and took a last swig of coffee as she got ready to go to work. She put the mug in the sink and started out of the house, glancing up the stairs. Shaking her head, she climbed back up, realizing she hadn't kissed Gene goodbye yet.

As she walked into his office, his hand dropped quickly to his lap. He had been rubbing a spot on his chest a lot lately and she was worried his heartburn was getting worse. He never complained, but she saw the pain he was in sometimes, and his color wasn't as good as it should be. That worried her even more, since he had long been taking medications for a mild heart-condition related to a murmur.

"Bye, honey. Don't forget to run by Smarty-Mart and pick up some Halloween Candy while you're at the doctor today."

"I'm afraid I had to cancel the appointment. Can you drop by and pick some up?"

She cocked her head and put her hands on her hips. "You promised you were going to go this time."

"Sorry, hon, but too much stuff has piled up with work." He waved his hands at the pile of reports on his desk. The computer screen was filled with numbers that made about as much sense to her as her son's video games.

Jean shook her head. "This is going to go on until you're really in trouble."

"It's just some heartburn. The doctor will just give me one of those little purple pills and be done with it. Like our future daughter-in-law likes to say, no big."

"You make another appointment as soon as you can. Thanksgiving is coming up and we're all eating at Ron's this year, and you know how much you like his cooking. It's be a shame if you couldn't cause you're too thick-headed to get into see the doctor."

"I'll got when work lets up, I promise. Have a good day at work, Jean. I love you."

"I love you too, Gene." She shut the door and headed downstairs, pulling her keys from her purse.

What was it going to take to get that man to see a doctor? He needed to go while he could still do it in his Camry…

…not in the back of an ambulance.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	15. Chapter 15

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 15**

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"Ron, quit being a baby, and come on."

He twisted his head to one side, then the other, creating an audible, and actually quite sickening crunching sound. How Kim had managed to stay loose and limber in the cramped back of a nearly fully loaded Marines VTOL jet was utterly beyond him. On the outside it looked like the same model he leased for her when he got his first royalties check from Bueno Nacho, but inside it was a whole other world. There was no luxuriously appointed cockpit and passenger space near the front with in-flight snack dispensers. There was barely room for the crew of three amongst the instruments, let alone to let their two last-minute passengers sit up there in relative comfort.

Instead they were forced to sit in a pair of tiny, fold-down seats situated between a number of crates with 'classified' stenciled on each one, along with the USMC logo.

Twice Kim had to stop him from asking what the plane's real cargo was.

"I'm really thinking right about now that Wade needs to build another Flyer for us." Ron kept rubbing the back of his neck, having dozed off during the three-hour flight with his head off to one side. He was having a hard enough time with the extra few inches he had grown during the end of his teens to end up with a crick in his neck.

"Do you have any idea what those things cost him, even though he builds them pretty much himself? Just be thankful we've got the one we do, after the first one got shot down over Greenland."

Ron held a finger up. "Actually, it crashed into the plane that was trying to shoot us down."

"Same difference. We ended up having to be rescued from a glacier, and Wade had to build another one almost from scratch. It's not my fault the Tweebs had to take it so they could run down a Monkey Fist sighting in southern France."

He kept sulking as they approached the Los Angeles Robotics Center. It was a sprawling complex of white concrete and glass, with complex looking buttresses that were supposed to be high-tech looking when the facility was built during the sixties. The style was vaguely similar to the Middleton Space Center, though the overall arrangement was somewhat different, being much lower to the ground, the different levels rising naturally with the hilly terrain. The familiar buildings back home took up one of the largest tracts of really flat land in the whole Tri-City area, larger even than the small airport, which had pretty much been relegated to short-hop connector flights to the major airport in Denver.

Kim wasn't really tweaked with Ron nearly as much as she was letting on. She was merely falling back into old patterns, just like he was. Having their own, normally reliable transportation was actually starting to spoil them, compared to having to rely on others to get them to the widely spread locales their missions took them. Ron was acting more like his old self as well, and she was certain the stiffness in his neck was all too real. It just simply was not the right time or place to be rubbing his neck. It was mission time, even though they were only in the preliminary fact gathering part of this particular sitch.

She was just a touch nervous wearing her black battle-suit again. There wasn't any reason to; Wade had given both their suits their semi-annual tune-ups, as well as adding the latest upgrades to them. It wasn't the suit's fault Danika kicked her biscuit the last time they met, she simply didn't have the right tools for the job that go-round. There were a couple surprises that had been added that should even the score a little if she ever went for round-two with the fellow former cheerleader again.

They would also help if they actually did end up going up against a cadre of re-constituted Bebe robots.

Both of them were aware how much attention they were getting as they confidently walked up toward the main building. Actually, most of that attention was focused on Kim, since she was the one wearing a skin-tight black body suit with shining blue stripes. With the golden light of the California sun her hair actually looked almost like it was on fire, so she stood out even by the more liberal standards of the west coast state. Ron was wearing his suit as well, but had taken his usual extra step of adding a pair of cargo pants over it. The newer suit was nowhere near as revealing as the somewhat tighter white one, but he was still self-conscious of people, particularly women, checking out parts of his body that only the woman with him was supposed to. Compared to Kim, he looked like he was dressed much more normally.

The suits may have been overkill, but if they were able to get on the trail of the one apparent Bebe, maybe that would lead them to their current ultimate quarry. Even if it didn't, the fact the speedy robots were back was enough to get their attention anyway. Experience had taught Kim to be prepared, even over-prepared. The suits could increase their strength, enhance their reflexes, had the energy screens, the morphing power-gloves, molecular binding grappler lines in each arm, full built-in Kimmunicators, head's up displays in the visors, as well as Wade's new upgrades. On top of that, she had an equipment belt slung on her hip, with all her loose tools, including a third grappler gun, a hand-held Kimmunicator and a sturdy lock-blade. On their backs were pods that would snap open, revealing extendable gravity repulsor wings and a small ion-powered engine.

Oh yes, they were ready for just about anything that came their way. Too many times in the past they had been caught without any of their gadgets, or only had woefully few. Then again, she never really expected to be kidnapped from her senior prom with nothing more that an expensive dress and high-heels on.

The receptionist in the main lobby looked like she might have been cloned from every other such employee on the planet. She was half-expecting to see the same effeminate blonde man she first met at Henchco Headquarters some six years earlier, though she knew he was still working at Bueno Nacho's home office, a position he managed to secure after being fired by the criminal world's primary supplier of trained Henchmen.

She eyed the super-suited pair as if they were no different from any other business-suited or lab coat wearing person entering the building on a regular basis. She smiled softly at them, but didn't offer any greeting other that a calculated pleasant look. Obviously she wasn't expected to deal with any kind of customers there, only scientists and their support staff.

"Hello, I'm Kim Possible and this is my partner Ron Stoppable. Doctor Porter is expecting us."

"I'll let her know you are here." She 'touched' something in mid-air between two softly glowing posts. Kim was impressed when she had first seen that kind of technology at Global Justice headquarters, but even that seemed passé to he by that point. From their vantage point all they saw was the receptionist, but if they had been behind her they would have seen the holographic heads-up touch monitor displaying whatever it was she needed to perform her duties. "Yes ma'am, Doctor. Team Possible is here. I'll send them right in." She looked up at them, giving them the same unreadable pleasant expression. "Follow the green stripe to the main lab center. A member of Doctor Porter's staff will be waiting for you."

"Thank you." Kim tried using the same neutral expression on her, though she wasn't quite sure if she could pull it off.

"I don't know if I could do that." Ron said as they followed the wide green stripe into the indicated corridor. They noted different colored stripes leading off in other directions.

"Do what, honey?" She winced slightly. Normally she didn't use pet names with Ron when they were on a mission, but there was a lot on her mind, not the least of which was the discussion she was going to have with him when they got back home. Twice during the flight he pressed her to talk about it, but she refused, saying it was something they had to deal with when they were on their own time. He finally relented, though she knew her reticence was bothering him, especially since one of the biggest things that caused their fight the night before was his not telling her what was on his mind for so long.

"Sit on my butt all day long just answering the phone and telling people where to go."

She smiled slightly. "How different is it sitting on the couch for hours just playing video games?"

"Hey, I don't play them that much any more. Don't really have time."

"You make enough time. Now, I need you focused. I don't want a repeat of the last time we were in Cyrus Bortel's lab."

"How was I supposed to know he was working on a ray that would simulate the effects of caffeine on the brain?" He pleaded.

"I so do not want you sitting up awake for three days straight with black circles under your eyes because you've got the jitters."

"You sure that just wasn't the coffee of yours I drank by accident?"

She didn't get a chance to answer. A familiar face was there to greet them.

"Hello, Oliver." She said sweetly.

The man was huge. Not only was he somewhat taller than both of the, he was extremely bulky as well, and it wasn't the good kind of bulky, either. He could best be described as being a muscular fat man. It didn't help that both of them knew what was behind that chubby exterior. The illusion was too good, small, deliberate imperfections making him look all that much more human.

Kim couldn't help but shiver ever so slightly. The last time she had seen a synthetic meant to look perfectly human, he almost ruined what had become the best thing in her life. Still, Oliver was not a synthodrone meant to steal her heart and distract her while a madman tried taking over the world. He was simply meant to appear to be Doctor Vivian Frances Porter's lab assistant, and, if things were still the same as they had been some five and half years earlier, her boyfriend.

He was a robot.

"So, Oliver, gotten any upgrades?" Ron asked genially.

He looked around to be sure nobody was close enough to hear them. "I would appreciate it if you kept it down about what I really am. As far as everyone else in this facility is concerned, I'm as human as the two of you. By the way, I'm actually Oliver two-point-O. My Vivian transferred my AI into a new chassis not long after we first met since most of my internal components were permanently magnetized."

"Oh, sorry about that." Kim said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. Like Ron said, I've gotten some upgrades that my Vivian was putting off since she didn't have the resources before getting the job at the Space Center."

"'My Vivian?' You still got it going on with the femininas?"

The huge synthetic shrugged his considerable shoulders. "Let's just say I'm fully functional, programmed in . . . multiple techniques; a wide variety of pleasuring…"

"Whoa, way more info than I needed." Kim squeaked, blushing considerably.

"We're here." He announced, motioning them into an expansive lab filled with partially completed automatons.

They didn't spot Vivian at first. The last time they saw her, she was a twenty-eight year old who looked eighteen and even dressed the part, in a short skirt and top that might have made Bonnie Rockwaller blush. Apparently in the intervening years she heeded her own advice that people wouldn't take a woman who looked like her seriously in her chosen profession, ditching the teenage-tramp outfit in favor of a smart-looking skirt-suit and a ubiquitous white lab jacket. They were also surprised to see her wearing glasses, though she might have been wearing contacts the last time.

"Kim, Ron!" her face lit up as she left the project she was working on at her table. The moment she opened her mouth it was clear it was the same woman. She sounded so much more like a valley-girl than a published robotics and artificial intelligence expert.

"Wow, has it been, like, five years?"

"We saw you sometimes at the Space Center before you came out here." Kim said coolly.

"Is it true what I read about you in _the Sphere_?" She asked after giving Kim a quick hug.

"You mean that I'm actually a Pod-Person from Mars sent to keep an eye on her, or that she's actually dating Quinn?" Ron asked, fighting the urge to pick up random, shiny robot parts.

"No, silly, that the two of you are getting married. That one about the Pod-People, that was really funny." She hopped up on the edge of a table, swinging her legs. The clothes apparently were the only thing changed about the woman. Kim also noted Oliver hovering nearby and desperately tried putting his earlier comment out of her mind."

"Yes, next summer, Independence Day, though we really haven't worked out all the details yet. So, down to business, what's the sitch?"

Vivian let out a long breath. "It's just like I told Dr. Load. That creepy girl-robot broke in here and stole some things. I didn't even know anything was missing until one of the security guys brought me the recordings from last night."

"What did it steal?"

"That's the funny thing. It actually stole two things. One makes sense, it was a synthetic motor function relay. I can see why somebody trying to rebuild one of Doctor Lipsky's…"

"Drakken's not really a doctor." Kim said flatly.

"Oh? Strange, he published a paper about his robotics research a few years ago. That's why I know about his BB2003 system. Anyway, that piece of tech would help them increase their speed, perhaps three-fold."

"Huh. That's odd, the last time I had to deal with the Bebes they had gained hyper-speed technology."

Vivian shook her head. "This one didn't seem to, though all we've got is that short bit on the tapes. Maybe since Doctor Lipsky's in prison somebody else has gotten their hands on his earlier designs, so they need the enhanced speed capability."

Kim nodded, keeping the fact Drakken wasn't exactly in prison to herself. "You said it stole something else?"

"Yes, and that's what's so odd. They stole the prototype for a Phased Dimensional Positronic Node."

"Okay, the techno-babble just went right over my head."

"That's alright. Not exactly your field of study, there aren't many people besides me who would understand it anyway. Oh, by the way, aren't you close to getting your doctorate yourself? It'd be so cool knowing another 'Doctor Possible.'"

Kim glanced at Ron and smiled. "Actually, I'm a senior, so I don't have my bachelor's degree yet, so by the time I get the title, I'm going to be Doctor Stoppable."

"The first one." Ron added proudly.

"Oh, guess the stuff in _The Sphere_ isn't always that accurate."

"Understatement much? So, what does this Dimensional Node thingy do?" Kim asked.

"Phased Dimensional Positronic Node. It's like a normal Positronic node, but it's got a small inducer in it that opens a tiny gateway into a pocket dimension, allowing the node to hold almost a hundred times more than a regular one."

Kim nodded. "I can see why the Bebes might want something like that."

Vivian frowned, shaking her head while she took her glasses off. "Actually, I don't. Unless somebody has made some major changes to how the BB2003 drones work, it's completely incompatible with them. See, the drones only have limited internal processing capability. They're actually just extensions of a central hive-mind that relays instructions to them, giving the appearance they have individual intelligence. Without their command signal, they're actually pretty dumb robots."

"Couldn't they integrate something like that into their mainframe then?"

"Maybe, but you still have to account for the fact it's really not a compatible technology. It'd take years to re-engineer their system to make use of it. Now, Oliver here, he's got a Positronic node, so I was going to test it on him when it was completed."

"Wait a sec." Ron held up his hand like he was in a classroom. "You said this is a dimension-something doohickey."

"Yes. The inducer…"

"Opens a pocket dimension." Kim glanced meaningfully at Ron. So far, only Wade and themselves knew about the second thief. Still, it fit the pattern. First the MPG, then the D-hopper, now this dimensional node thing. Everything the mysterious small woman in the body suit had stolen was related to inter-dimensional technology.

She surreptitiously touched the back of Ron's hand with her fingers. His comment was what put her on the trail, having missed the connection completely at first. There was every possibility there were two forces at work here, just happening to hit the lab at the same time, the Bebe stealing the relay, while the other was after the node. There was also the possibility the two were working together, but if the thief used the same tricks she had at the first lab, the robot might not have even been aware of her presence. If she could mask herself from sensors, she could mask herself from the robot.

Out of habit, Kim reached for her belt and unclipped her Kimmunicator, forgetting the same functions were built into her suit. She pressed the main call button, but the unit didn't make it's usual noise when it connected. For a moment she felt a surge of panic. Years earlier, the newer, smaller units were plagued with problems, losing power mysteriously until Ron and Wade figured out the battery drain was coming from a mistake in a hidden spy-ware bug Danika Foster had slipped into the programming to keep track of Kim. It took a couple moments for it to register that the screen lit up like normal, it just wasn't connecting with Wade's satellite network.

"Oh, that probably won't work in here." Vivian said, hopping off the counter. "We've got a communications jamming system running. That way people can't transmit classified information from the inside without going through specially secured channels. Did you want to speak to Doctor Load?"

"Please and thank you." Kim followed the blonde to a computer terminal set up on a nearby table. Moments later, her friend appeared on the screen.

"Hi, Kim. How was the flight?"

"Ferociously uncomfortable."

"You can say that again." Ron added, rubbing his neck once more. He almost jumped out of his skin when Vivian started absently rubbing it for him, not being used to other beautiful women touching him that way.

Kim rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Wade. "Have you got anything on shipments of parts and other materials that look like they could be used to construct new Bebes?"

"Way ahead of you. There's been a surge in smaller orders of the main alloy used in their chassis, plus related high-end electronics. It could mean anything, but if I wanted to build one myself, those are the things I'd be looking for."

"Got a name."

"That's the good part. They're all ending up going to one person, though they've been purchased by what looks like shell organizations. It's actually another robotics expert, a man named Doctor Ben D. Rodriguez."

"Oh, I've heard of him." Vivian said. "He's good. He came to speak at a symposium I went to last year, even tried hitting on me until Oliver chased him off."

"Lovely." Kim eyed the bulky synthetic again, still a bit nervous despite knowing what he was and what his true function was supposed to be.

"The parts were delivered to an address in the Sierra Nevadas."

"Can you get us a…"

"…Ride?" Wade grinned, having finished her sentence for a change. "Already done. They should be there to pick you up within the hour."

"You rock, Wade." She switched off the connection and turned to leave.

"So, Oliver, want to have a little rematch at the rumble some time?" Ron asked, leaning on a counter near the lumbering robot.

"Any time, though I should warn you. My robot is equipped with a type three disintegrator beam now. It would fry your little communications device before the word 'begin' finished."

Kim grabbed her fiancé's shoulder and pulled him on. "Come on, Ron, remember what I said about focus. Vivian, Oliver, thanks. We'll let you know what we find out."

Just as they were heading through the door, Vivian called after them. "Are you going to invite me to the wedding?"

"We'll see." Kim answered quickly. "Like I said, we're still working out the details."

Kim was thinking furiously about what they had learned, ready to get clear of the complex so she could do some research on Dr. Rodriquez. Something else was tickling her mind, though she couldn't quite figure out what.

She was so focused on her handheld, waiting for it to reconnect, she didn't see the trio of figures standing just outside the gates of the Robotics Center until Ron put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kim Possible, we have come for you." The lead Bebe said in a distinctly non-human voice.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	16. Chapter 16

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 16**

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"I'm starting to think that maybe this is one a those days we should stood in bed." Ron said as he assumed one of his awkward-looking combat stances.

Kim was already in a ready pose of her own, keeping her eyes on the lead unit while keeping the other two in her peripheral vision. "One, it's 'stayed' in bed, not stood. Two, we slept on the couch, so there wasn't a bed anyway."

She watched the robots carefully, watching for them to start vibrating, a signal they were about to either accelerate, or jump right to hyper-speed. Since they weren't living, they could use the latter at will, if they actually had the technology. If the were the case, they might be in a little trouble, though somehow she thought they would have already done so rather than confronting them directly.

"Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, you will come with us."

"Oh, I was coming to see you, just on my own terms." She took a couple steps to the right, Ron to the left as the other two units started slowly flanking them. Whoever either programmed them or was directing them remotely obviously had some knowledge of their previous battles. None of them were close enough to slam together

Everything seemed so freakishly different than before. It used to be the Bebes would keep going on about how perfect they were in a husky, female voice. Now they sounded like they had a voice synthesizer from the early days of computers, and save for their overall shape, they were no longer specifically female. Kim didn't know if that was because their builder thought such things were unnecessary to their function, or simply had not built them that way yet. They looked like bald, androgynous mannequins. Yet, if they weren't 'finished,' why then had their exposed metal surfaces been polished instead of being just dull gray metal?

There was another problem. When Drakken had employed the robots to kidnap her father and his former classmates, they always operated from the shadows. When the robots re-emerged, they used their hyper-speed to remain virtually invisible to the general populace. Instead, they were out in the open, in broad daylight. What's more, they were out in front of a research facility devoted to creating advanced robotic technology.

In short, they were already starting to draw a crowd.

Kim flexed her muscles a certain way, telling the suit she was ready to go into action. With a yell, she charged the lead unit.

The other two robots immediately started vibrating, closing in from the sides on Ron. He swung at the closest one, the dark yellow stripes of his suit glowing as the micro-fiber flat-motors enhanced his strength and speed. What he didn't count on was that he was standing in a little sand that had blown up onto the brick walkway, making it slightly slick. He spun around, his feet going out from under him just at the two Bebes clanged into each other above him. As quickly as he could, he rolled out of the way.

The other android spread her arms, ready to catch Kim as she struck, but instead she kicked up, vaulting over it with a flip, landing on her feet and kicking backwards, using its forward momentum to send it reeling forwards.

The move only got her a moment's reprieve, as first the head, then the upper torso swiveled to face her once more. Before it could get it's legs back under itself properly, Kim met it with a round-house kick to the 'jaw.' The head snapped back, then popped right back into place like the hood ornament of an expensive car.

Seconds into the fight, Kim had already realized she was fighting Bebes a lot more like Drakken's original trio. They weren't using hyper-speed. At least she could be thankful for that. Without the Valkyrie shoes, the later-model fem-bots had the two of them tied up before they could even blink. The suits might have amplified their muscles, but if their opponents got them in a position where they didn't have any leverage, they might as well have been fighting in bathing suits.

Be that as it may, they were still as fast as the suits could make them normally, and were several times stronger. Touching a control on the sleeve, Kim linked the communications system up with Wade.

"Need a Bebe disruption signal." She spoke into the throat mike.

He didn't speak, already too busy accessing every feed of the battle he could, but the high-pitched squeal told her he got the message. It was a good thing they were outside of the complex, or she would have been completely cut off from his aid.

Only it wasn't doing anything. Even when she fought the Bebes in their hive, they sparked and shook while they fought off the affects of the ultra-sonic signal. The unit she was fighting just kept coming at her, completely unaffected.

Kim dodged a punch, connecting with the face with her own counterstrike. Even through her gloves, it felt like she had just punched a brick wall. Only the speed enhancements of the suit let her dodge the follow-up, which swished by her ear, just catching her hair slightly.

"Oh no you didn't, I'm so not having it cut again!" Kim growled as she dropped to the ground, sending a kick into the robot's knee that would have shattered an unprotected human's joint.

"KP!"

She risked a glance at Ron. One of his attackers had him by the arm, trying to wrestle it behind his back. The other tried tackling the both of them, but he used the one holding him to get leverage with the ground and brought up both feet to kick the second one away.

Unfortunately, that allowed the first one to get a better hold of his arm, twisting it painfully behind him.

Kim dodged her own opponent one more time and aimed her left arm at the outer wall of the complex. A tiny, cuplike device shot out from the back of her wrist, binding itself to the surface. The cord went taught in a milliseconds, pulling her along as if she was flying four feet off the ground.

The Bebe holding Ron didn't even see her coming as she shot by, catching it by the neck in her right arm. It spun free from him, arms flailing as it tried to get a foothold. Kim spun around, her feet contacting the wall just as the molecular binding cup released, snaking silently back up into the tiny hidden mechanism in the suit's arm. She pushed off into the air, letting go of the surprisingly light metallic form.

It didn't clatter to the ground like she expected, landing cat-like instead and turning to face her. The original lead unit was already closing on her as well, moving several times faster than a human could.

Ron was paying too much attention to Kim, and suddenly found a pair of metal arms wrapped around his shoulders, clamping down as hard as if he were wrapped in anchor chains. Instead of screaming, he simply grinned wickedly, stooping down as the power bands of his suit flared. It was the position they were afraid of, one that wouldn't allow his enhanced strength to break free, no matter how much the suit amplified it, but that was not what he was doing.

The defensive screens flared, creating a momentary sphere of energy around him. It was designed to repel most projectile weapons, but in the case of a humanoid robot, it simply blasted its arms away from him, sending the whole thing flying back into the wall. This time, sparks did fly from the unit, as something in it shorted out. It slowly dropped to the ground with an odd, electronic groan that sounded just like one of the robots in that old space-wars movie.

Kim dodged another punch that knocked a portion of the wall loose. These things were playing for keeps! She dropped and rolled, spinning around as she came up, firing the grappler cable once more, but not at the wall, but right at the head of the further Bebe. Planting her feet, she hauled at the line with all her strength, pulling it off its feet and slamming it into the other unit, sending up a gratifying shower of blue sparks.

Something slammed into her back, sending her sprawling to the ground. Reacting on instinct she rolled to the side, just missing a dull-gray knee crashing to the ground where her head was a moment before.

It was a fourth Bebe.

Only this one had the familiar look to it. The "hair" needed painting, and there were some crude welds on the metal casing, but what it lacked in appearance, it was making up for with the speed of it's attacks. Kim sprang to her feet, dodging another flurry of strikes.

"Kim Possible, you are hopelessly outmatched. Surrender and you will not be harmed."

"I don't think so." She tried to spin and kick again, to get enough power behind her strike to do some damage, but this one did something the others had not yet. A hand shot out at her, the coiled extensions wrapping around her arms and pinning them to her sides. In that instant it was clear the 'newer' models did not have all the features of the originals.

This was why she had come prepared. Her own defense screen fired, creating a sphere of blue around her. Only this time the coils didn't break, though they loosened enough for her to spring into the air.

The Bebe that struck the wall remained motionless on the ground, but the other two Kim had slammed together were slowly getting up as their systems compensated for and repaired the damage. Ron didn't let them get to far, firing his own grappler so it spun around them, binding them together face to face. He cut the line and gave them a little nudge, sending them toppling onto their sides.

_They fight in threes_, Kim thought. If this was one of the old ones, where were the other two?

Then again, this one may have been 'frankensteined' together from the remains of some she had battled before. That would account for the crude-looking, but apparently effective welds on the body. She didn't have any time to think of any more than that as she somersaulted backwards as the hands shot out, leaving pockmarks in the parking lot asphalt.

The fight was getting dangerous, not just for them, but for the crowd starting to gather nearby. In the distance she could hear sirens, though she had no way of knowing if it was the authorities responding to the battle, or just something else happening in one of the world's largest cities. She had to do something fast.

Landing in a crouch, she touched another control on her wrist. It was time to give her upgrades a road-test.

The world around her blurred slightly. Danika Foster may have somehow come by the hyper-speed technology, but Kim had an inside with the lead researcher who had helped develop it. She felt as if her whole body was vibrating as the suit accelerated her whole being on the molecular level. Other devices built into the system accelerated her motor control responses, letting her brain operate at super-speed as well.

Just like her former class-mate, the new system was adapted so it would not send her body into over-drive, but operated at about four to five times what would be normal. Hopefully, if the robots were actually operating to their original specifications, she would have a speed edge on them, if not outright strength.

The Bebe she was fighting threw a flying kick at her head, though she ducked it, bringing a fist up, using her legs to add power to the blow. Her hand struck the gray and yellow head, snapping it sideways. She planted her foot and changed directions, landing another blow.

Her third strike never landed. The Bebe dropped to the ground, kicking out, catching her by the ankle and sending her sprawling. She got her hands out just in time, changing the headlong tumble into a handspring. She flipped a couple times, landing on her feet facing the automaton.

"You may be fast, Kim Possible, but Bebe is per-fect."

"So not. Don't you know you look like a metallic rag-doll?"

"Out outside appearance is subordinate to function." It countered.

Something clicked in Kim's mind. The first Bebes had spoken in a harsh, synthetic voice, but this one sounded exactly like Drakken's originals. For a moment, she wondered what exactly had happened to the wreckage of those three after Drakken was hauled away for yet another very short stay in jail.

Ron stood watching as the two blurs sparred with each other out in the open parking lot. It wasn't like the battle in the hive when all he heard was the occasional crash. There wasn't much more he could do, since Kim's suit was the only one with the limited hyper-speed capability. He had been a little put-out when Wade and Kim agreed that the enhanced speed would also enhance his clumsiness, meaning he would have to do some serious training time before he was ready to use it in the field.

He was so engrossed in the battle, he didn't see the two bound robots struggling to their feet. He wasn't aware of them at all until he heard the sound of the thin cables snapping. Moments later, they were on him. He tried to block the punch, but it landed squarely on his jaw, sending him reeling.

"Come on, Shego fights better than this." Kim said as she danced around the robot.

"Shego is not perfect. She would eventually tire. Bebe does not tire, Bebe can fight indefinitely."

Ron dodged one of the robots, only to catch a blow from the other one. The world around him was spinning as he tried backing away from them. Kim slowed just enough she caught a glimpse of him.

"Use the shields, Ron!" She shouted, barely dodging a metallic fist aimed at her own head.

"Doy!" He scrunched down into a standing fetal position as his yellow screens flashed. The two robots were sent flying onto their black, metallic rumps, only to snap right back to their feet.

The robot she was fighting had a point. So far they had seemingly only taken down one of the four units, and it was entirely likely its self-repair systems would have it back in the fight in moments. She might be strong and was used to fighting like this, but they needed a way to take the robots out of the fight, or they would eventually be worn down to the point even the suits would no longer be able to compensate.

Jamming their control signal was out. Apparently whoever put them back together learned from Drakken's original mistake, something the independent robots didn't figure out, save for being ready to disable Kim's hand-held the moment she tried using the signal.

Ron's head was starting to clear, the screens giving him a little respite, but he knew they drained the power cells of his suit incredibly. Using the basic enhancements of his, he switched to his oldest tactics. He ran away.

He didn't get far. One of his attackers sprang halfway up the wall, pushing off from there and landing on top of a mini-van, partially caving in the roof. They might have been lighter than expected, but they did weigh more than a comparable sized person.

"Okay, let's see you do this!" He touched the back of his palm and the pod on his back opened up. The helmet unfolded itself, popping onto his head as the wings first extended, then snapped open as the tiny engine flared to life. He crouched down like he had seen the superheroes on TV do and sprang into the air just as the second one reached his position.

A smile crossed Kim's face as she saw him sail into the air out of the corner of her eye. She vaulted straight into the air, the enhanced speed sending her almost thirty feet in the air before her own wings opened up. At least up there the robots wouldn't be able to reach them and they could lead them away from the onlookers.

The idea was a good one, until she felt something wrap around her ankle, almost jerking her leg right out of its socket. The old-school Bebe had apparently anticipated the move and used it's extension arms to snag her before she could get out of range.

With all her might, Kim yanked her leg, pulling the heavier robot off its feet. Unfortunately, the glider-pack wasn't designed to lift that much weight, and it was slowly reeling her in, fighting the power of the small ion engine.

Growling, she spun around, firing both her grapplers at once. Her air was perfect, the two cups covering both of the robot's eyes. Its second hand was already about to wrap around Kim's other ankle, but instead snaked back into the arm casing, trying to dislodge to devices blinding it.

Unfortunately, Kim still wasn't able to gain any altitude, and the Bebe slammed into a parked car, acting like an anchor and slamming her to the ground. She kicked for all she was worth, but the coil around her ankle couldn't be dislodged. On top of that, she was still flying forward, the cable-like arm extensions acting like the pivot of a fulcrum.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" she screamed as the ground rushed up at her. She barely got her arm around in time and tucked into a roll as she slammed into the tarmac. One of the wings broke free, sliding off to the side.

Her foot finally slipped through the coils as the Bebe fought to free itself from the wreckage of the car, glass and metal bits falling from its body as the arm retracted. Kim hit the release, dropping the dead glider-pack and struggled to get to her feet. Her shoulder was going to be black and blue, but she was otherwise fine.

That's when she realized her own grapplers were still attached to the blinded automaton. Reeling the cables in taught, she wrenched with her whole body, pulling it of its feet, slamming it to the same pavement she had nearly kissed.

The robot pushed itself partially up, taking the two cables in one hand and giving a good yank, snapping the spent cups from the sensors it used for eyes. The other hand shot out directly at Kim, narrowly missing her as she flipped backwards. The other hand followed its mate and this time she knew it was going to connect. She tried firing her defense screens.

A dark blur slammed into the Bebe. Ron had looped around in the air and brought is foot down in a flying kick attack, catching it's head and bearing it to the ground. For the first time in the fight, the older unit shot sparks, an indication that he had actually done some damage.

Kim spotted the motion just a split-second too late. Another old-model Bebe stepped from behind a delivery truck and landed a crushing blow on his head, sending him straight down to the pavement, knocked cold.

"Ron!"

Kim started forward, but something suddenly wrapped around her arms. All she could see at first was the snake-like metallic coils, but then she spotted the hand. There was a third old-style Bebe!

Her shields flared once more, but this time the hold was too tight. The metal groaned under the stress, but the field simply was not powerful enough to dislodge them.

Then there was another flare of brilliant blue light, brighter than the shields could generate. Every muscle in her body tensed up as the electric charge surged through her, shorting out every system in her suit. The speed enhancers shut off, she suddenly felt like she was moving through mud as he mind slowed back down to normal. Moments later, another charge surged through her, this time without the suit to absorb any of it.

The last thing she felt was her teeth clenching together in agony.

Ron staggered to his feet. Everything around him was spinning, but he knew he had to move, or the Bebe would hit him again. He knew if that happened again, he was going to be out of the fight. Somehow he focused on something metallic coming at him. It seemed larger than it should be, but it was metal, it was humanoid and therefore it was something he was fighting.

He flailed his fists, only then realizing it was beyond his meager reach. Stumbling, he fell to the ground once more, just as a bright red light went off. His eyes lost focus again as he blacked out.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	17. Chapter 17

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 17**

* * *

For perhaps a moment, as Kim came to, she though she was back at Bueno Nacho headquarters, tied to a giant cactus while a madman tried to take over the world. The sitch seemed the same as he vision did its best to clear. She was bound, with her feet off to the floor, wearing a skin-tight battle-suit after being jolted with enough electrical current to knock out any unprotected electronics it came into contact with.

Only this time it wasn't a synthodrone posing as a human being, it was a Bebe robot that had done it to her, and, more importantly, she was alone.

Stupid. That was the only thing she could think of. Ron had been holding his own against the robots, but they were acting as a team to take them down. What did she do in response? She simply went off on her own to fight them. It didn't matter that the last two times Ron had been unable to fight at that level, or was simply inside a cage, he wasn't this time and she still basically left him to his own devices. They should have stayed together and fought them back-to-back. Then there wouldn't have been any untoward surprises.

Then again, maybe Ron would have been tied up there right along with her.

No. That wasn't as likely. When they worked together, especially as a team, they were just about unbeatable. One of the reasons she was planning to go by Kimberly Anne Stoppable once they were married was that her middle and last names would sound just like 'unstoppable.' She had even considered changing the whole team's name to 'The Unstoppables,' but passed on the notion since Joss, Jim and Tim would still be Possibles. Stranger things had happened, but she still figured it would take Joss a lot longer to find somebody to settle down with than it had taken her. Well, more like later in her life.

Shaking her head as best she could, she tried clearing her vision. Another important difference between the corporate headquarters where Drakken had tied her up and this new place was the lighting, or more precisely, the lack of it. It wasn't pitch black, but most of the room was cast in impenetrable shadow. A single door opening out into a hallway let the only light in.

Kim expected pairs of glowing red eyes to open at any moment.

The other difference was perhaps the worst for her. She had been tied up enough times to not be terribly bothered about it. Yes, it would be time to worry when the megalomaniac de jour decided to come rant at her, but that would give her a chance to accurately assess her sitch. No, being bound wasn't something she particularly enjoyed, but that wasn't what actually made her squirm.

It was the smell.

The odor wasn't incredibly strong, but it was familiar as it was distasteful. Ever since she had turned twenty-one, Kim had occasionally sampled certain adult beverages. They kept a couple bottles of wine at home and she did have a slight affinity for extremely dark Irish beer, but alcohol was proving to be of little importance in their lives. Kim had been drunk twice and neither experience had been pleasant. The aftereffects weren't all that nice either.

Still, she had been around enough alcohol to know it when she smelled it, and it wasn't the nice kind of smell either. No, this was much more like what one of her father's lagers would smell like if he forgot a partial bottle in the garage and somebody later spilled it. It was a stale smell, though sharper and less 'hoppy' than something so mild as beer. Oh, the beer smell was there, but it seemed to mix with something that was perhaps stronger.

All that made her wonder exactly where she was. Could she be in the back room of some seedy bar? That didn't seem likely, considering who and what her captors were. She was expecting something much more like Drakken's usual cave-like lair or the Bebe hive just off the Gulf coast.

Somewhere out in the hallway a door opened and shut. Moments later something stood in the doorway of the room Kim was tied up in, blocking out most of the meager light. From her point of view, all she could see was what appeared to be a heavyset man with slumped shoulders, carrying something in his hand.

"Stupid robots." He muttered. He sounded surprisingly like Drakken, though the accent was different. Also, considering the way he slurred his words, he also sounded like the supposedly former mad scientist had been on a three-day bender.

He put the object he was carrying up to his face and based on the sloshing sounds, Kim assumed he was drinking from a bottle of unknown liquid. With the smell, she pretty much assumed it was most def not lemonade. He wiped his face with the back of his sleeve and looked around in the room. "Can't see a damn thing. Who the hell turned off the lights anyway?" he reached up with his free hand and hit the switch nearest the door.

Old-style fluorescents flickered to life, filling the room with just enough light to see, though most of what was now a cluttered cross between a workshop and a storage room was still in deep shadow.

The man had light brown hair, and would have had a neat Vandyke beard if he had bothered to shave over the last several days. It was also clear that he had been drinking a product of Lynchburg Tennessee straight from the square, black-labeled bottle.

He took no notice of Kim, simply sitting down at a table covered with electronic components of several types and started picking at something she couldn't identify. She bit her lower lip, wondering if this was in fact the man who was directing the revived Bebes, though it didn't seem like he was in any kind of condition to direct even the bottle of amber liquid to his lips, let alone coordinate half a dozen high tech automatons.

Making a decision, she cleared her throat. "Um, sir, I really would like to be cut down from here."

The man sat bold upright in his chair, though he was still facing partially away from her. "Who said that?"

"Right here." She called.

Instead of following her voice, he looked instead at the bottle he had put in the center of the table. "Damn, thought I didn't get the DTs until I went off this for a while. Could have sworn I heard a girl talking." He spoke to the bottle as if it were his closest confidant.

"Behind you and to the left. I'm the redhead tied up back here."

He turned and looked first about level with her feet, then slowly looked up until he squinted at her eyes. "What the hell? Who are you?"

Kim couldn't get over how much he sounded like her one-time arch nemesis, though he looked nothing like the man. He actually looked a bit more like Motor Ed, though he was nowhere near as muscular and he was slightly hunched over. He regarded her for a moment before wiping his hands on a grubby white lab coat.

"I'm Kim Possible. Now, would you please cut me loose?"

"How on Earth did you get up there in the first place?"

"Well, I'm assuming the Bebe robots did it, since I was fighting them when they knocked me out."

"Knocked you out? What are you rambling on about, girl? Wait a minute. What did you say your name was?"

"Kim Possible."

"I think I've heard of you. You're that teen hero girl, the one I see on TV sometimes."

"Yeah, though I'm not a teenager any more. Now, please, get me down from here."

"You said the Bebes put you there? Why would they go and do something like that?" He stood there, with one hand on his hip, the other acting like it wanted to pick the bottle up once more while he stared at her with his head cocked to one side.

"I pretty much figure they want me out of the way. Or the guy running them does."

"I did'n tell em to do any such thing." He scowled, then picked up the bottle for a long swig.

"You're directing them?"

"Directing? Heck no. I just rebuilt them, improved them, but they've got a mind of their own about things."

"So I've seen. Now, the ropes, please?"

"Hold on. Bebe-Prime, get in here, now!"

There was a rush of wind as a single robot zipped into the room, standing tall, legs apart, facing its latest 'creator.' This particular unit looked much more like the original, save being dressed in a 'skin' tight body suit and sporting more realistic synthetic hair and a flesh colored rubber face. The eyes were still glowing red.

"Yes, Doctor Rodriguez?" She asked in a voice that was perhaps an octave higher than the standard Bebe 'Per-fect' drawl.

He pointed a chubby, shaking finger at the captive. "Whas the meaning a this?"

"We have neutralized a primary threat to our existence. Kim Possible, while still assessed as a minimal threat, has defeated Bebe on two separate occasions, as well as having defeated our sisters, the Valkryor."

"Doctor Ben D. Rodriguez, I presume." Kim said.

"Yeah, thash me." He turned back to the robot. "You did'n answer my ques-shun. Whash she doin tied up in my workshop?" He swayed slightly, obviously having only recently imbibed on a good portion of the bottle.

"As I said, we have neutralized the threat."

"Threat? What threat? Double dipped damned, woman. What are you gonna do next? Get rid of her? Now look what you done. Yer gonna have the whole stinkin army comin down on me now."

"Kim Possible would have eventually come here. We observed her at the site where we acquired our latest upgrade."

"She's right, Doctor. We were about to pay you a little visit. How long before all your stolen technology led us to you anyway?"

"Stolen? Nothing is stolen. I'm not doing anything illegal."

"Then how do you explain having reassembled the original Bebe robots?"

Doctor Rodriquez straightened himself out, standing as tall and proud as his slightly stooped form would allow. "I rea…rea…put them back together from parts I bought legally. I'm a scientist, not a thief. I don't know the first thing you're all talking about. I didn't steal anything."

"Then what about the motor function thingy they stole from Doctor Porter's lab?"

"The who-the-what? Bebe-Prime, what is she babbling about?"

"Bebe must be perfect. The Synthetic Motor Function Relay is crucial to making Bebe perfect. With it, we will be able to fully re-initialize the hive-mind."

"Whoa, back up there. You mean to tell me that you made the drones steal something?" He turned back to Kim. "You're talking about Vivian Porter, aren't you?"

"Yes. They broke into her lab and stole that, plus a dimensional phased brain node or something."

"We did not take that item. It is of no use to Bebe." The robot responded.

"I told you, there was going to be not stealing, no getting on your high horse that yer so perfect you don't need me."

"I have already analyzed the variables, Doctor Rodriquez. Bebe has been restored to the point you are no longer needed." There was another rush of wind as a pair of new-style robots raced into the room, flanking the drunken scientist.

"Apparently you didn't read all of Doctor Lipsky's findings." Kim said. "They are too independent. They think they're superior to humans and they always rebel against their creators."

"Wrong. Bebe, shut-down sequence Ben D. Rod A one A, execute."

Instantly, the trio of robots slumped their shoulders forward, their red eyes going dim.

"Dammit. Thought I got rid of that sub-routine." He wasn't speaking to Kim, instead sitting down in his chair, scratching his chin. Somehow, he seemed significantly less inebriated than he was only moments before. It was as if the problem confronting his mind had overridden the alcohol, or, more likely, he was so accustomed to being drunk that was the only way he knew how to function.

"You mean to tell me they weren't supposed to do that?"

"No. I'm not stupid. I read the paper you mentioned. I also read the Global Justice report. I'm not as sloppy as Lipsky, nor do I take the shortcuts he does. His mistake was giving them a portion of synthetic human emotion. It was supposed to make them ashamed of failure, but instead it gave them ambitions and the capability of autonomous thought, rather than existing to serve as they were originally designed to do."

"Okay, so, assuming you did buy the remains legally and such, would you please cut me down? I don't know how long I've been up here and I'm getting a little cramped."

He looked up at her and frowned again. "I don't think I'm going to be able to do that now."

"Why not? If you're doing legitimate research there's nothing to worry about."

"See, that's the problem. Yes, I bought the remains legally, but that was only with the understanding I studied them to advance my own research. I wasn't supposed to reactivate them, but I saw it as a challenge. Though it looks like some of the challenge remains." He muttered the last, as if speaking only to himself. He grabbed the bottle once more and took a lengthy pull, then went back to scratching his chin.

"You can't just keep me like this." Kim pleaded.

"As a matter of fact, I can. Bebe-Prime was right about one thing. You kids tend to meddle in things, and considering you beat them not once, but twice, that means when you learned they were activated again, you'd be right here to stop me." He put the bottle back down, but didn't let go of it. "There are other considerations." He muttered, again just to himself.

Kim scowled. For all his talk that he was just doing harmless research, there seemed something more nefarious at work. The robots were combat-capable, and if he was building them that way, there had to be a reason. The work itself may have represented a challenge, but there was always the chance that he had some ultimate purpose beyond simply saying that he perfected what others had done before him. There was also the fact he was on a brain-altering drug, making him all that much more dangerous.

She felt a slight tingle. The very first super-suit had been a marvel of new technology, with its defense screens, morphing power-glove, self-healing fabric, etc, but it had one huge flaw. Synthodrone 901 had rendered it completely inoperable with just a simple electric charge, something Wade had overlooked, or simply had not realized since the suit hadn't been properly tested at the time. Only, once he was aware of the problem, it was his own personal challenge to find a way to overcome it.

There was still no way to shield the bulk of the circuitry from such a huge discharge, but not everything was fried by the jolt. Hidden deep in the central processor was a specially shielded chip, one hooked up to one of the most critical components in the suit. It had been working probably ever since the main systems were shut down, and the results were finally starting to tell. It was the biggest of the secret surprises the suit contained, bigger even than the integrated hyper-speed capabilities.

The self-repair system first went about restoring as much of the critical components as it could. Some of the functions would not work until they were actually physically repaired, such as her discarded flight-pack or the defense screens, but others, like the enhanced speed and strength were already coming back online. The blue bands she could see were already starting to glow softly, something that wasn't completely visible with the lights in the room on.

She wished the defense screens were active. Then, all she would have to do was fire them and it would shred the cables wound around her body. She was simply going to have to rely primarily on her own strength, which was nearly doubled by the suit.

The scientist went back to studying whatever it was on his table, not paying her any more attention. Obviously, he was nothing more than just another whacked-out mad scientist, though whether he was after world-domination or just trying to further his own research by whatever means necessary, she didn't know, and for the moment, she didn't care. He might not have directed the robots to kidnap her, but he was ultimately responsible, especially since he apparently wasn't going to free her.

With her arms pinned to her side, even with the enhanced power, she didn't have the leverage to break the bonds. If it had been plain rope, there might have been a chance, but it looked as if she was wrapped in extension arm material, something she knew she wasn't going to be breaking on her own.

That made her think of the other systems in the suit that would be returning to life, chief among them, the internal communications suite. She had little doubt that her tracking chip was destroyed by the electrical charge, but Wade would be looking for her, and the suit would light up his sensors like a beacon.

There was still something else she could try for the moment. There was no telling what had become of Ron, though if they weren't together, she held out hope that he escaped their attackers and would be mounting a rescue as soon as her position was pinpointed. Until then, she had to figure out some way to get loose.

Twisting her body, she tried using her back muscles to stretch the metal bonds as much as she could. If she could just wriggle a little more, she might be able to get an arm free, or at least move it enough to get to her equipment belt. Hopefully, the laser lipstick was undamaged, and she could slice her way out with it.

Her fingers crept to the belt, trying to get to the snap holding it closed. That's when she noticed something that made her blood run cold.

The eyes on the Bebe-Prime unit slowly came back to life. All three Bebes present slowly straightened up as their power cam back online. Rodriguez wasn't even aware of them. He just kept tinkering with whatever it was on his desk.

If she knew the Bebes, they would have already found a way to defeat his fail-safe. They were only playing possum until his back was turned. She redoubled her efforts to get into the pouch, but the bonds wouldn't budge any more, keeping the flap tightly shut. There were no enhancements in the fingers of the gloves themselves, leaving her only one other option.

"Doctor, look out!" She shouted.

He looked up a moment too late as the Bebe-Prime robot brought her hand down on his shoulder in a karate chop. He dropped to the floor, knocked cold.

Kim relaxed her muscles, letting the power bands dim as much as possible as the automaton turned to face her.

"Secure him with the other prisoner. We will deal with them when the time is appropriate." She said coldly, her voice shifting to the more familiar tones of the original evil robots.

"Bebe five reports a security breach." One of the others said in it's low, synthetic voice.

"Bebe six, secure the prisoners. Bebe seven, join Bebe five and deal with the…"

Kim grinned softly when she heard the screaming sound of a high-powered weapon. The wall started glowing, much the same way it had when one of her friends paid a call on the people who had damaged his computer systems.

Help had arrived.

The wall exploded inwards, sending a spray of dust and debris into the room. Only, this time it wasn't Wade striding into the room, out for revenge, but something else familiar.

A metallic arm that had once sprouted of all thing a hockey stick sprang forward. Instead of articulated fingers, there was a projector of some form. There were three quick blasts of red light from the muzzle, momentarily blinding her.

Before her vision could clear, Kim could feel the bonds loosen, and a pair of strong, large hands gripped her, lowering her gently to the floor. Those hands wrapped around her back, pulling her close into a very welcome hug.

"What kept you?" She asked as Ron finally let her go.

"We got halfway to the site in the Sierras before Wade located your suit back here in LA, so we had to fly back. Figured we could use a little extra help too." He jerked a thumb toward the hulking silver figure standing silently in the middle of the room.

Another large man was climbing through the hole Doctor Porter's robot had made. Oliver touched a control, and the whole thing folded in on itself until it was the size of a canister vacuum cleaner on tracks.

"The robot took out the rest of the Bebes before they could get me, but you were already gone." He explained. "GJ's gonna be here any minute to pick up the pieces."

Kim let out a big breath. "Great. Let's get back to Middleton before we miss any more classes."

"Yeah, and we've still got to talk about whatever it is you want to talk about, if it's not gonna keep still."

"When we get home, Ronnie. I promise."

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	18. Chapter 18

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 18**

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Will Du wasn't especially happy. Then again, he almost never was.

He was an important agent for Global Justice, their number one agent. That meant he was the most use to his organization out in the field. In fact, he was overseeing three separate operations at the moment, so being called in to headquarters was a rather unwelcome interruption of his important work. The only reasons he ever wanted to be called back there was for briefings relating to the missions at hand, or finally getting word that he was finally being promoted to assistant director, making him effectively the leader of all field operations.

That simply wasn't the case that morning. He was simply told to be there at seven in the morning and would be apprised of the reason for the meeting when the time was right. So far, apparently no one had thought that time had arrived, at least for him.

There were others there, already waiting for thing to get under way. One of them was part and parcel of his discomfort. Every so often, the young woman seated at the opposite end of the conference table would shoot him a withering glare. It didn't help that the young man seated next to her was doing the same, though he never really had any cross words with him before, nor had there been any particular reason to. Maybe it was because of how things had gone with his companion that the young man kept looking at him that way.

He wondered exactly what had gone wrong between himself and the young woman. Things had once gotten off to a good start, at least at the very beginning. That is, if one could consider the fact they were thrown together by circumstances and ended up making the most of it good.

What was it about those Possibles? They seemed to be put on Earth to irk him, though somehow he wished it could be different, especially with the young woman quietly sipping her coffee as they waited for the meeting to begin. He wouldn't admit this to anyone else, but he thought she was rather beautiful, especially in her mission clothes. It was something that struck him the very first time he laid eyes on her, though she was only fifteen at the time. Then, as she got a little older, he discovered the age difference didn't really mean all that much.

As it turned out, the attraction he felt for her was stronger than he expected.

Not that it mattered all that much any more. Bridges had been burned, and it was probably for the better. It was because of who and what he was that there would never be any chance between them, and he took solace in the fact that it really would never have worked out between them if it meant changing himself in such a radical manner. His identity was wrapped up in his work and if she couldn't deal with that, then she wasn't right for him anyway.

Still, there was no point to being uncivil. He got up and walked across the room, standing ram-rod straight in front of the two. "Good morning, Miss Possible."

"Howdy." She responded quietly, not quite looking up at him. It seemed easier for her to shoot angry stares at him than to meet him eye-to-eye.

"I trust you have been doing well."

"Oh yeah. Much better. 'Specially since I'm with someone now."

Will lost a bit of his composure, looking away for a moment. "I…I'm glad to hear it."

The young woman looked up at him finally. Something in those turquoise eyes told him there was still a little pain involved there. Their relationship had been turbulent at best, especially when it came to her over-protective father, and even though she was not technically an adult, he had a good feeling the man still had a very active dislike of him, something the daughter wasn't able to get past.

"Sorry, Will, that weren't fair. How ya been doin'?" Joss finally looked up at him and smiled. What had happened between the two of them was supposed to be behind them, and, unlike the strife that existed between the young Asian man and her older cousin, the tumultuous breakup of their brief relationship was more her fault than his.

Will was just a little over six years older than Joss, which, if he hadn't been a perfect gentleman during its course, would have been disastrous since, at the time, she had not yet turned eighteen. To make matters worse, she was part of a Global Justice training program, trying to make her into the professional that Kim Possible never truly was, meaning he was technically her superior…

…and completely against regulations.

It was something so out-of-character for the normally straight-laced agent that few could believe it actually happened. They knew each other in passing, but some ten months earlier she got assigned to one of his operations, meaning the two of them spent a considerable amount of time working in close proximity. At first, he thought her just another hot-headed, independent minded Possible, just like Kimberly. That first impression was heightened by the fact that, save the different hair and eye colors, she looked like a carbon copy of her cousin at the same age.

Those traits ran true in her as well, but she was all-too-aware that she lagged behind her famous relative in some areas, especially fighting skill. Her desire to learn, to become a hero in her own right overrode her natural tendencies, something he found refreshing. She wanted to learn, and he was willing to teach, if for no other reason than to prove that he was indeed the top agent on the assignment.

A fair amount of time was spent with nothing to do but talk, so, the training subjects exhausted, thing started to drift toward the personal. In an off-hand comment, Will finally admitted that, despite her obvious character flaws, he found Kim Possible rather attractive. At first that didn't sit too well with the teen, until he explained that he thought the small differences made her even more attractive.

If there was one thing that Jocelyn Possible liked, it was flattery.

Dating, even if it was kept mostly on the down-low, came more naturally to Will than he thought. When he was her age, he was immersed in one of the most intensive training programs Global Justice had to offer. He had been identified as having the potential for being one of the best agents the organization ever had, and they invested in that theory heavily. The downside was that, from the age of fifteen until he became a full agent at eighteen, he had absolutely no time for women, including his colleagues.

The upshot was when he actually got to spend time with her, he behaved as if he were a teenager, making the six year difference seem that much less. When they had the chance, they went to movies, or would just hang out. Simple things like that. The young woman seemed to be rather happy with that arrangement herself, to the point he was one of the few people she actually allowed to call her Jocelyn, as he was given to calling people by their full names.

The problem was, Joss tended to be rather intense at times, and, as the relationship grew, she wanted a little more. There was also the problem with the secrecy. Eventually her father, then the rest of the family found out, and virtually to a person, they were against it. Fortunately, they only exerted pressure on Joss rather than reporting him to his superiors.

Will never quite fully fathomed the dichotomy of Joss' love for her father, and her desire to rebel against him. That tendency led her to want to take their relationship to a level he wasn't willing to explore, at least until she was older. That was a line he wasn't willing to cross, but she didn't really understand that. It led to an epic verbal battle where things were said that really couldn't be taken back. Needless to say, they broke up, with no real way for them to get back together.

He looked at her, sitting with her cousin (he had never quite learned how to tell Jim and Tim apart.) She was wearing her own, personal version of the Team Possible mission gear; a dark brown crop top that was otherwise identical to Kim's black one and a pair of digital desert camouflage trousers tucked into tan mid-calf tactical boots. Her hair had been cut back to shoulder length as she tried to differentiate herself from her more-famous cousin. Still, he thought she looked outstanding, though he would no longer admit to that.

The other Possible Twin joined his brother at the table. They were both wearing identical black turtlenecks, but their cargo pants were in their particular 'signature' colors, though again, he didn't know who wore the red or the green. All he knew was that this latest arrival was wearing the former.

"So, Will, what's all this about? I've got a class at the Middleton Institute of Technology in an hour, and Professor Allenford doesn't tolerate absences.

Will nodded. He was a little surprised at the fact that Kim's younger brothers had finished high-school at a younger age than she had and were already taking accelerated college courses, though they were supposed to be a year behind Joss, who was just a senior at Middleton High. For all her boasts that she could do anything, Kim hadn't managed to pull that particular feat off.

"Unless this meeting runs long, you should have no problem getting to your class on time, Mister Possible…"

"Tim." He corrected him.

"Anyway, we have several tubes that open on the campus. You can be there in seconds if you have to. Otherwise, I have not been told what this meeting is about, though I suppose since all of the…junior members of Team Possible are here, that it will involve your sister. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact she has failed to recover the Multi-Phasic Portal Generator and bring the thief to justice."

"Don't see you doing any better." Jim said, looking up at the tall agent.

"That has not been my assignment. I am sure the agents responsible for that project are well on their way to bringing it to a successful conclusion."

"So not." Tim took a seat beside his brother. "If Kim can't find them, I don't think you bozos would stand much chance."

"We are not bozos." Will half-growled. "We are professionals, and we do things the right way, unlike certain…amateurs I know."

"More like you'd be so stuck on your procedures the bad-guys just get away." Jim countered.

"Our success rate is more than sufficient. The minor issues that we allow your team in order to indulge Kim Possible's hobby allow us to concentrate on much more important problems, most of which your meager security clearance will never allow you to even know about."

"Really. Ah didn't see ya'll doin' too much when Dr. Drakken launched the Diablos." Joss sneered.

"Our operations during that debacle are classified."

"More like ya don't want everyone to know you had yer collected heads up yer backsides while Kim saved the world."

"Jocelyn…"

"Don't call me that. That's my Mama's name, and you lost the right to call me by that name a while back. All I know is that ya'll did'n do nothin. I saw some Air Force jets fightin' those things, but were there any GJ hoverjets? Nope. Nada."

"As I said, our operations were classified. Do you think…"

"That's quite enough, agent Du." Doctor Director, the executive head of Global Justice strode into the room with her right-hand man, a former FBI tactical agent named Millard Bedarest. The younger agent eyed the man quietly for a moment. There were certain rumors about how the man had been chosen for the post rather than somebody, like himself, but the professional in him kept him from ever uttering such a thing to anyone.

If there was any truth to those rumors, the two never let it show. Bedarest was himself a consummate professional, serving as an Air Force combat controller before being recruited by the FBI. He was a tall man, well over six feet, who had a tendency to wear dark sunglasses, even indoors. He suspected there was something to the strange habit, like hidden circuitry that allowed him to keep apprised of multiple details without anyone else seeing it, but felt it was more that he simply thought he looked cool with them on.

As with most people Will Du considered a rival, he detested the man.

"Doctor Director, this meeting is a waste of my valuable talents. I need to be in the field taking care of my own operations."

Betty Director turned a cool eye to the man she used to refer to as her 'top agent.' "Your talents belong where I say they do, and at the moment, I say they belong in this meeting. Do I make myself clear, Agent Du?"

"Exceedingly so." He replied coldly. He noted her aid-de-camp looking at him with his hazel eyes over the glasses for a moment. Assistant Director Bedarest was known to be a man who followed his orders, to the letter, and looked on his job as yet another extension of the military. Orders were not meant to be questioned, only to be followed.

"Then at least let's get started so I can return to my…usual work."

"We will, as soon as Kim and Ron get here." Dr. Director took a seat mid-table, an indication that she was not the one who would be leading the meeting."

"Why am I not surprised that she is late. Not something a professional would do."

Betty rubbed her forehead above her eye-patch. "Shut up and sit down, Will." She said tiredly. "It's not quite seven, nobody is late yet."

"Bet Kim's found the MPG. Bet that'd shut you up real quick." Tim said.

"Hoo-shah" His twin replied.

Will glared at Tim for a moment, but the room lapsed into silence for a few minutes. He glanced up at the chronometer on the wall, watching as it slowly counted down to the appointed hour.

With only seconds to spare, the rest of Team Possible strode into the room. Will arched an eyebrow when he realized that not only were Kim and her fiancé there, but Dr. Load as well. He had long ago overcome his agoraphobia to some degree, but it was rare that the young man made a personal appearance with the team. In fact, the only other time he had seen the tall, slightly heavy-set teen in the complex, he was in the cafeteria eating a sloppy cheeseburger, dripping with chili.

Kim and Ron were both wearing their 'traditional' mission gear. Will had always thought Ron's outfit was a little better suited to their line of work, as Kim's top was a touch too revealing for serious field operations. Wisely, he kept that to himself as the three took their seats at the head of the table.

"I see everyone's here. Good, let's get started." Kim said, folding her hands on the top of the table.

_About time_, Will thought to himself.

"First off, I just want to go over an update on our progress on the MPG matter. Our investigation of Doctor Rodriguez turned out to be a dead end, though I'm happy to report that his plans to build an army of updated Bebe robots has been thwarted."

Jim leaned toward Will. "Bet you didn't know about that one, either, Du." He whispered.

"Hush." The agent rasped irritably. _Why must these Possibles always irk me so?_ "Miss Possible, do you have any further information on the actual thief?"

"Only what we put in the official report."

"Then what are we wasting time here for? There's a dangerous weapon in unknown hands, and has been for quite some time now."

"That's not what I've called this meeting about." Kim said flatly. "I just wanted to get that sitch out of the way before I got to it."

"Then you are turning the matter over to us?" He asked, folding his own hands on the table, unconsciously mirroring her body language.

"Not necessarily." Dr. Director explained. Officially, Global Justice has not been called in on this affair. The device was created by a private concern and to this date they have only enlisted Team Possible's aid in the matter."

"But Dr. Director, the Multi-Phasic Portal Generator represents a clear and present danger. That alone tells me that this is a job for professionals."

"That's enough, Agent Du." She cut him off, shooting him a hard glare, a look mirrored by AD Bedarest. "I have full confidence that Kim and her team will produce a positive result. For that matter, if anyone were planning to use it as a weapon, we would have already seen that happen."

"All the more reason we should be in charge. If my team was on the case, we would have already apprehended the thief and her associates. There is far too much at stake to be in the hands of amateurs. That thing belongs in our control, just like the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer."

Dr. Director leaned on the table again, rubbing her temples. "I am going to forget for the moment that that bit of information is itself highly classified. If it were not for the fact that it is common knowledge among those present, you would have just divulged a secret that involves planetary security."

"I apologize, Dr. Director. I spoke in haste."

"Please go on, Kim." She said, nodding to the redhead.

"Thank you." Kim stood up, taking a deep breath. She looked around the room, meeting everyone's eyes, finishing with Ron, who simply nodded.

"As Agent Du likes to point out at every opportunity, Ron and I are not professionals at this. For a little while I guess we were when we were classified as independent contractors, but even that is not true any longer. We found we couldn't operate under those circumstances, for a variety of reasons I won't go into at this time.

"I never planned on becoming what I am. It all kind of happened to me…to us." She laid a hand on Ron's shoulder. "I found that we had the ability to help people, so that's what we did. Along the way, we got into bigger and bigger sitches, until we were being called on to save the world."

"On several, separate occasions." Ron added, holding a large index finger up.

"Recently, some things have started coming up that made me start questioning where my priorities are. On one hand, I ferociously don't want to turn anyone away who needs my help, but on the other, there comes a time when things have to change. We could go on doing what we do, perhaps eventually joining GJ officially like Team Impossible did, but that would come at the expense of some of the goals we have set for our personal lives.

"Ron and I have had a very long talk about this, a talk that also involved a number of people who are very important in our lives. Our parents, some of our friends, our school guidance counselors, even Ron's Rabbi. In the end, we both came to the conclusion that, if we want to make the most of ourselves, to actually become something that can help even more people, we have to shift our focus.

"As of today, Wade is going to take over as the head of day-to-day operations of Team Possible. Ron and I are, for lack of a better term, going to take an extended leave-of-absence to devote our time to completing this stage of our college educations. We expect to return, if time allows, after our wedding this coming summer.

"This is probably one of the hardest decisions we've had to make. For one thing, it seems like a ferociously selfish thing to do, but like I said, it's something I think will make us more useful to the world in the long run."

Jim leaned toward Joss and whispered "She's not pregnant, is she?"

"No, now shush." She hissed back, punching him in the leg.

"What about your ongoing MPG situation?" Will asked, folding his arms over his chest.

Kim pursed her lips. "Joss and my brothers will be handling most of the field work, but we will be staying on the case as time allows. If we think things are getting out of hand, we will call in the proper authorities."

"So, the two of you are, in effect, quitting?" Betty asked. She had spent the entire speech nodding silently, having guessed at what they were going to say. It was more of an educated guess, since she had regular briefings on the progress of most of their lives, including their educations and knew that both of them were starting to slip.

"Only temporarily. I know it's going to be super-hard, especially when we decide the time is right to come back, but, yes. As of right now, Ron and I are just college students."

Betty Director pushed her seat back and silently stood up, locking a single-eyed gaze first on Ron, then on Kim. Then she started clapping.

Seconds later, everyone else in the room, including Will, did the same.

Once the applause died down, Betty went over and gave the younger woman a fierce hug. "Kim, you have done so much for us, and even though we have had our differences, you have been one of our most valuable assets. You two have my complete support for your decision, and as far as I'm concerned, we will be here waiting for you when you come back. After all, next summer is going to be here before any one of us know it."

"You sound just like Mom." Kim smiled, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I honestly don't know how you held out so long. I remember when I was in college. The 'doctor' title doesn't come easily."

Ron laughed. "Yeah, KP, she does sound just like Mom P. Dad P too."

Will leaned uncharacteristically on the table. "Sounds like somebody finally decided to grow up."

"Shut up, Will." Numerous voices called him down.

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A small panel near the top of one of the monitors in the conference room slid back into place, concealing the crystal blue eyes that had been silently observing the proceedings. The slim female figure concealed in the cramped repair access nodded to herself, before calmly preparing to exit the huge, underground complex.

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	19. Chapter 19

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 19**

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"KP, aren't we a wee bit old for this now?"

Ron fidgeted while Kim put the finishing touches on his makeup. He was sitting Indian-style in the center of their bed, the clothes he was going to wear that night lying neatly folded on the foot, opposite where she was sitting making sure his look was perfect.

"You could say that if you'd listened to me when we were twelve, then when we were thirteen, then fourteen." She turned his face gently to his right and applied some eyeliner before leaning back and inspecting her work.

"We didn't go when we were fifteen." He said dryly.

"You are so not going to throw that in my face again, are you?"

"No. I'm just saying. We didn't go when we were seventeen either, but that's just because I was in Japan."

"It's just as well." Kim got up and headed for the bathroom to check her own makeup before putting on the outfit she had laid out. "I think Daddy might have had a bit to say about the position we'd be in wearing that unicorn costume again."

"He didn't say anything when we were sixteen."

Kim leaned out the door. "We weren't dating when we were sixteen and Daddy was clueless about how close you were to my butt all evening."

"Well, it sure beat being that close to Mankey's butt the year before. Besides, we'd have done something different that year anyway. So, what's the over-under this year?"

"Huh?" Ron could hear her spraying something in the bathroom and he had a pretty good idea what it was.

He picked up the trousers he was going to wear that evening. "You know, how many little girls are going to be dressed as Kim Possible?"

"Oh. I doubt we're going to see anyone. There was only one last year…I really think that peaked the year after the Diablo thing, when Monique and Tara dragged me out while you were away. We're not the big thing any more."

He regarded the pants, holding them at arms length. "You sure these are clean?"

Kim poked her head out the door again. She was tucking her expansive red tresses into an even more voluminous wig. "You do the laundry, baby. You know that washing machine hates me."

"Maybe it's just the thought that counts. At least you were the last one to wear your costume."

"Uch, don't remind me. I didn't have all that much choice that time. Still can't believe I kept it all these years."

Ron threw the pants onto the bed and wandered over, appreciating the view of her standing at the mirror in her underwear, even if it was the plain kind and the top a sports bra she often wore openly when they worked out. "Well, I think it'll fit a little better this time."

"Ha. You're going to have a hard time filling out that jacket. Maybe I should have had Mom sew in some shoulder pads for you."

"You saying I still have a bird chest?" he mock pouted.

"No, baby. Your chest is just right, it's just that some people are bigger than you, and you've seen him in other outfits enough to know he's kind of a big guy under that thing."

"That stuff dry yet?" He nodded towards her.

She ran a couple fingers over her shoulder. "I think so." She caught where his eyes were drifting. "None of that, loverboy. Save it for when we shower this stuff off later."

"I dunno. It would be kind of weird, though. Think they ever…?"

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about that." Kim opened up a new tube of lipstick, applying a color she thought she'd never, ever wear. "Just…I think I might just take a shower by myself and we can get romantic afterwards. If there was anything you could call 'sick and wrong'…"

"Know what you mean, KP. You know, maybe this body paint wasn't such a good idea. Really, if you think about it, all anybody else is going to see is our faces."

"Too late for that, Ron. Besides, you wanted us to be as authentic as we could."

"Yeah. You should have seen his face when I asked him if I could borrow this stuff."

"I can imagine. What did you tell him, anyway?"

Ron shrugged. "Just the truth. I didn't tell him we were going T-r-Ting with it, I just mentioned the party. Hey, speaking of old Mankey, you think he's going to be there tonight?"

Kim walked back into the room and started putting her own outfit on. "That all depends. I was talking to Tara on the phone yesterday. She's convinced Josh is about to pop the question. If he does before, then I'm willing to bet they're not going to set foot out of his apartment at all."

"Wouldn't it be cool if he proposed at the party, like, maybe when his band is onstage?"

"Sounds a little more romantic than proposing with the sprinklers going off." She smiled at him as she zipped the body-hugging suit up and adjusted the boots.

"Hey, I was supposed to do it at the restaurant. I can't help it they kicked us out because the power went off."

"I know, baby. You did just fine and I wouldn't have it any other way." She adjusted her engagement ring before slipping the gloves on. It wasn't the same one he had given her that night, but a better one he had gotten when he later 'officially' proposed in front of their families, after formally asking her father for her hand. "I just have this sneaking feeling that if he does, they're going to beat us to the alter."

Ron pursed his lips in confusion. "What's the rush? We've been together just a little longer than they have."

Kim laughed softly. "Let's just say that both of them are ferociously ready to get to their wedding night." She adjusted her wig again, watching his face as the gears slowly turned as he digested what she had said.

"Whoa, wait a minute, you mean…"

"Uh huh. Some people are better than others about waiting for some things."

"Oh." He slipped the long jacket on. Just as Kim had predicted, it slumped somewhat on his shoulders. Ron may have filled out somewhat since his mid-teens, but he was still a fairly slender man. "I'm sure glad it's cool out tonight." He muttered as he stuffed a couple t-shirts up into it to fill them out, though it really didn't take too much since it was rather stiff and held most of its shape.

Kim stood up and posed for him. "So, what do you think?"

He growled slightly in approval, the same sound he made when he first laid eyes on a picture of the woman Kim was dressing up as. "I think you look badical, and evil."

"She wasn't there when you borrowed your outfit, was she? I'm willing to bet if she knew, she'd figure out who I'd be going as."

"Nah. Didn't see her, though I'm sure he's already told her. Bet she's really ticked."

"Think I can pull it off?" She twirled around.

"Let me put it this way, Kimbo, if this was any other night, I'm willing to bet you'd be arrested. Just…there's something missing." He rubbed his chin, careful not to rub any of the body paint off. "Can't quite put my finger on it."

"Well, she's a couple inches taller than me."

"No, that's not it. You're a little skinnier, so the proportions are mostly right."

"Think I need to stuff my bra like you did your shoulders?"

"Uh, no. She's not that much bigger than you now. That's not it."

Kim scowled. "Well, what is it?"

"That is!" He held his index finger up. "Do that again."

"What?"

"Make that face. There. Now that looks like her. You were smiling and looking your own beautiful self. I can't think of a single time I've ever seen her smile, unless it's an evil grin or something. Remember, you're supposed to look evil."

"Well, so are you." She handed him his own wig, complete with a short ponytail. He had a lot less problem tucking his short blonde bangs up into it.

"Hmmm. Needs more eyeliner under the eyes." She grabbed the pencil and started widening the black circles around his eyes. "Maybe we should have gotten you those black contacts."

"No way, KP. I'm not putting anything in my eyes. Like when I finally have to wear glasses full-time, that's what I'm gonna do. Besides, it's almost dark, I don't think anyone's going to notice I've got brown eyes instead of black."

She smiled and smoothed out the lines of his jacket. "You're the one who wanted total authenticity. But you're right, if this wasn't Halloween, it would be kind of foolish to be wandering around the home-base of Global Justice dressed like this. I've got half a mind to start our Trick-or-treating right at Will Du's apartment, just to see how he'd react."

Ron threw his head back. "Boo-yahahahahaha!"

Kim rolled her eyes. "That was your Zorpox laugh. Come on, get your head into the game, candy-boy."

"I could have gone as Zorpox. I've still got the costume somewhere."

"So not. It's more of a 'moo' sound, from the belly."

"MWUHAHAHAHAHA!"

"That's it, just a little deeper."

"Hey, my voice only goes so deep."

"Come on, Bad Boy, show me what you've got. You've got your arch-enemy Kim Possible chained to the wall and you're about to launch your latest take-over-the-world scheme. Dig deep, I know you can do it!"

"MWUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!! So, Kim Possible, you thought you're all that! But you're not!"

"You _think_ you're all that, but that was close."

"Shego, your words hurt."

Kim grinned, running her fingers through the waist-length black wig she was wearing. "Too bad I don't have anyone to call Kimmie or Punkin or even Princess."

"Maybe you'll get your chance, if there's some ten-year-old wearing a red wig and a rolled up turtleneck."

"S'ha, if they don't run away screaming." She looked in the dresser mirror, checking her makeup. To her, she really didn't look all that much like her former nemesis. Her face was somewhat rounder and her eyes a touch darker green, plus the body paint she was wearing was a trifle more lime than mint. Otherwise, she looked the part, right down to the green and black jumpsuit. It was the first time she had actually put it on since the day some six years earlier when Drakken had forced her to with a mind-control chip.

At first she thought it would bother her to dress up as Shego, but it had actually been some time since she had seen Sherry Godfrey 'lit up' as the villainess. In fact, the very last time she had seen her use the green glow power had been when her daughter was born. It was fortunate for the woman that she hadn't, since that was one of the conditions of her continued 'freedom.'

Ron, on the other hand, didn't look exactly like Drakken himself. His face didn't have the jowls and he refused to let her fill in his eyebrows. Instead, he looked like what Drew Lipsky might have looked like when he was younger if his skin had been turned light blue then. That was something she would have to ask her Dad about later. At least they both had the same large ears, something the tabloids had once latched onto, theorizing that the mad scientist was actually his real father. Apparently, none of the paparazzi had ever taken a close look at his real parents. There was no way in the world he wasn't the offspring of Gene and Jean Stoppable.

Dressing up that way had been his idea. In fact, Ron had almost always chosen their costumes, ever since they had known each other, and there was always something funny about his selections. When they were four, he was the one that suggested they go as a ballerina and a cowboy. Even at that early age, she was completely flabbergasted when her mother opened the costume package and pulled out the thin plastic fake chaps and the hat. It got worse when Ron was dropped off wearing a pink tutu.

It was many years later before he would even mention the debacle that ensued that night.

Over the years, Ron came up with all kinds of inventive costume ideas, though it usually fell to Kim's Mom to actually put them together, like the year they went as Batman and Robin (Kim, naturally, was Batman), or the one time when they were Sophomores when they went as Miyazaki characters. Kim's '_Nausicaä_' costume was one of her favorites, though Ron nearly cooked that warm night in his '_Tortoro_' outfit.

Needless to say, she was somewhat dubious when he suggested they dress like Dr. Drakken and Shego, something that might not have gone over too well even a couple years earlier. He persisted, stating that he had never seen anyone else dress that way, even though lots of girls liked to dress up like Kim, some even going so far as to stuff their mother's hair-dryers into fanny packs.

Kim flexed her fingers. The gloves felt strange, having reinforced metal claws in the tips. She was going to have to be careful, since she was much more used to wearing her own dark-brown Nomex gloves.

That thought made her a little wistful. It had only been a little more than a week since they announced their intentions, and it was still only just starting to sink in. It was actually quite strange to sit in her classes and not expect her Kimmunicator to go off. She still wore the bracelet version, more because it was still more convenient than a cell-phone, but Wade knew to send the emergency calls to Joss and the Tweebs.

She kept telling herself that it was only for a few short months. They would finish their undergraduate studies, get married, have their honeymoon and come back home and start over. It was actually a very simple plan.

Only, somehow it still just wasn't sitting right with her. It seemed so…selfish. After all those years, it seemed like she was somehow responsible for the rest of the world, and she was letting everyone down simply to finish college. The reasons for their decision all made sense, at least logically, especially where it came to Ron.

It just didn't feel right. It was almost like those first days of summer when she knew she didn't have to get up at a specific time, something she knew she had also left behind for good earlier that year. It was time to grow up, and Ron at least would start looking for an actual career. He might have had a fair amount of money in his trust fund, but she knew as well as he did how fast it could disappear. It wasn't like they were going to be millionaire philanthropists, going around saving the world on their own dime. Were it not for Wade's resources, they would have been broke many, many years earlier.

Kim put that from her mind. That wasn't the thought for the night. For a few hours, they could be kids again, fulfilling a long-standing Kim and Ron tradition, perhaps one last time before they fully embraced the mantel of adulthood. She almost felt a slight pang of guilt when she picked her hand-held Kimmunicator up off the nightstand and stuffed it into the small pouch attached to her leg.

"One of these days, we need to ask her what that thing is actually for." Ron said, nodded at Kim's left leg.

"It's just a pocket, Ron. Not like there's a lot of places to put stuff in this thing." She rubbed her hands on her hips, demonstrating how snug the body-suit actually was. "You ready?"

"Born ready, KP."

Kim picked up the green and black bag she had selected to match her outfit. "Okay, but remember, we're going to make the candy last this year. No sugar induced comas for you tonight."

"Aw, man. That's a tradition, KP!"

She sidled up to him, grabbing a handful of a particular part of his body that could be described as one of his best – at least that was visible. "I think we can start another tradition. Might even leave the party early, if you know what I mean."

"Boo-yah." He said quietly.

They walked out of their bedroom, hand-in-hand, followed closely by Rufus – in his dark red and black hooded jumpsuit, complete with wraparound sunglasses.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	20. Chapter 20

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 20**

* * *

Kim and Ron practically danced up the sidewalk to Felix Renton's house, not caring one little bit that they were completely out of character for their costumes. Kim had already done enough scowling to last for the next month and decided if there was ever another reason to dress up as Shego, she'd draw on some darker eyebrows to simulate the effect. After the first hour, she had pretty much given up on it and let the costume itself do the job.

The vast array of cars parked along the street and even in the yard were indication aplenty that his home was indeed party central that night. Even though she technically lived alone with Felix in Massachusetts, Mrs. Renton had purchased a slightly larger home a couple miles from the split-level they first had when they moved to Middleton, and since Felix was twenty-two and she had always been fairly permissive with him anyway, it was the logical choice for Monique's annual party since her father had been transferred again and no longer lived in the area. Heavy bass music was already rattling the windows, letting them know that the festivities were well under way, though neither of them cared that they had already missed half of it.

Back in Kim's car were two bags stuffed with candy, and even though she knew she would probably have to keep it under lock and key so Ron wouldn't attempt to consume every bit of it later that night, she knew the real fun had been in the gathering. Most folks didn't seem to care that two apparent adults were out Trick or Treating, especially since they both recognized who they were and who they were dressed as. Drakken might have been a fairly obscure villain at one point in his evil career, but the Diablo fiasco had changed all of that.

Dressed as a villainess had been oddly freeing, even more so than when they had announced their leave of absence. She was discovering just how fun it was to let loose and be just a little bad, if only in her imagination. Despite her earlier predictions, they saw at least five different girls dressed up in her mission gear, giving her the opportunity to play her part to the hilt, though she kept the taunts to Sherry's usual pet names for her, something the little girls were more than willing to play along with. They would grin from ear to ear when she called them 'Princess' in her mock Go City accent.

Ron was past caring whether anyone was actually done up as him. He pretty much realized that, while it was cool for girls to dress up as their hero, the boys tended to want to emulate characters with a great deal more pizzazz, something a guy in a black turtleneck and gray cargos certainly lacked. Instead, he played his part as Drakken, getting plenty of practice with the laugh, though, for the most part, he still tripped over the mad scientist's signature catchphrase repeatedly.

The biggest surprise was when they hit a small subdivision about halfway between the college and their old neighborhood. The man answering the door at a neat but plain little house was nearly as surprised as they were when he opened the door. It was perhaps the first time they had ever seen him in civilian clothing, though he still stood ramrod straight as he held a bowl of treats. They were only kidding when they suggested paying a call on him, since they actually assumed he had an apartment in the complex, rather than maintaining an actual civilian residence.

Will Du never expected to open his door and see Drakken and Shego standing there, holding out half-filled bags of candy and treats.

"Think he figured out who we really were?" Ron asked, wrapping his arm around Kim's waist.

"Probably." She laughed. "Du is a lot of things, but dumb isn't one of them."

"I'm just glad he's still not so good with that 'stop-watch' thingy of his."

Kim giggled. "He must have been on a mission and forgot to set it for local time again. If he had knocked you out, he'd have gotten the same treatment I gave you that time you snapped my training bra."

"Don't remind me. I was still trying to pull that wedgie out when we got to school. That's why Barkin thought I was giving him a funny look that day, and you know how that turned out."

"So not the drama. You were actually one of his favorite students."

"Favorite to give extra homework to." He griped.

"He was just trying to kick your butt so you'd do better. If I remember correctly, you'd slack off just about any homework, except what he gave. Anyway, we're here. You ready?"

"Oh yeah." He straightened his wig and made sure the ponytail hadn't gotten stuck in his collar again. Twice the hairpiece had fallen off, and Kim had to admit without it he looked a lot more like Zorpox that way that Drew Lipsky, something that gave her a few…ideas.

Kim stopped at the doorstep, inclining her head at the doorbell. Ron gave her a slightly confused look, then reached out and gave her a little nudge on the shoulder, not so much to get her attention, but like he somehow thought she wasn't even there.

"What was that for?" She asked, returning his quizzical gaze.

"Last time you did that, you turned out to be Wade's holo-Kim."

"Silly, you had your arm around my back not five seconds ago."

"D'oh!"

"I just wanted you to be a gentleman."

"You think you're all that, Shego, but I'm an evil megalomaniac!"

That earned him a quick, but light elbow in the ribs before he finally rang the bell.

There was little question who it was answering the door, though it wasn't through any fault of his costume. Felix was dressed as the classic version of "The Mummy" complete with sepia colored bandages. The only dead giveaway was his lightweight 'Quickie' brand wheelchair with its pewter anodized aluminum frame. He had been working to build his upper body strength as much as possible, so he often eschewed his powered chair for the manual one, especially at home, though it did have a robotic arm assembly to help him reach higher than the chair would allow.

The other tip-off was his girlfriend hovering right behind him. Monique was also dressed as a classic movie character, though her skin and hair was somewhat darker than Raquel Welch's in the old cave-woman movie.

"Kim, girl, that had better be you." Monique laughed, casting a glance back into the house.

"Oh, it's me alright." They gave each other a huge hug. Her FBF had only been back in town long enough to get the party set up, and was leaving early the next day to resume her classes at Duke University, leaving the two of them little time to get caught up.

"Ron-man, I've got the computer running a Game-Cylinder Three emulator, and I've got the three-D version of Zombie Mayhem Five loaded."

"Coolio! Tonight, the Zombie Prince is going down!" He pumped his black-gloved fist in the air, making the other glitch in his costume that much more evident. He was wearing his old mission gloves, as Drakken's rubber hand coverings would have never fit on his big paws, no matter how much they stretched.

"Kim, you are not going to believe who is here, and who she's with." Monique said, leading Kim to the snack table.

"I was hoping Tara would be here with Josh."

"Oh, they're here, alright." She pointed to the living room, where a band was set up. Josh was onstage in full werewolf regalia, plucking a bass guitar. The big surprise there was Tara, wailing on the mike like she was born to do it. Kim smiled, instantly recognizing her costume. It was very similar to her appearance when she played Everlot with Ron, but the character had been around a lot longer than the online game. If anyone was dead-on perfect to play the little fairy, it was Tara, since she filled out the extremely short, tattered looking mini-dress to a T, and her platinum blonde hair was pulled up into a bun. Her dragonfly-esque wings bobbed slightly as she sang.

"Girl, avoid the punch. Rock Banner was by earlier and I think he spiked it with something, and I know how you feel about that. Want anything?"

"I'm not too worried about it, if it's not too strong, but some Coke would be nice. So, who's the big surprise you're talking about?"

"Oh, only the captain of the Go City U's varsity cheerleading squad."

"Get out! You mean Bonnie Rockwaller is actually here?"

"None other. This has to be the first time she has _ever_ come to one of my parties. Not only that, but she came with a date."

Kim smiled slightly, suspecting who that might be. She hadn't heard from that particular family as much the last year, but she still kept in touch, especially on a professional level.

"There's also somebody here dressed as you, though I don't quite know who she is." Monique leaned against the table, scanning the crowd.

"This I've got to see. You know, we actually saw some little girls while we were out T-r-Ting."

"It's a retro-chic kinda thing. Did you know that CB was going to do another run of Kim-Style?"

"Oh no, not that again." She said in mock exasperation.

"They'll do anything to charge three times as much for stuff that's straight out of the standard catalog anyway."

"That's so not right, though I really don't need much, especially since we took a leave-of-absence. Did you know I still have some of that stuff I bought when they red-tagged it six years ago?"

"Guess you don't wear it all that much any more since you got that hot little tight outfit of yours."

"Well, that and there's the fact it isn't as good a quality, so I never used it that much." Kim replied. "Wow, how many people are here?"

"I think half of Middleton." She craned her neck, trying to see onto the dance floor. "There, see the guy dressed like a walking-stick bug?"

He wasn't all that hard to spot, since not only his costume, but his head tended to stick up above the crowd. That's when she spotted who it was he was dancing with. Her hair was longer, much longer than it had been when she last saw her, reminding her of something she just couldn't quite put her finger on. She had also filled out even more, making her look pretty much just like her older sisters.

The strangest thing was the fact she was wearing an outfit very much like Kim's, only in dark purple and black. Her hair had been temporarily dyed maroon and she was wearing light-purple body paint on her face. She had to chuckle slightly, since very few people outside of Go City actually knew who Mego, or anyone else in Team Go actually were.

Drink in hand, she sidled up to her former rival.

"So, Bonnie, did you have to shrink to get into that outfit?"

The cheerleaders eyes shot wide open, looking for the source of the voice. It took her a couple moments to realize she was standing right beside her.

Her date, who was indeed dressed as the bug character from the Mouse Ears channel movie about ants, was grinning from ear to ear. "That has got to be the best Shego costume I've ever seen, Kim. You look just like Sis."

"That's because it's real…long story."

"Oh, that's right, that's your sister. I forget that sometimes. How've you been doing, Kim?"

"Good. Buried in school work, as usual."

"Tell me about it. If it weren't for us borrowing the TG jet, Mervin and I wouldn't have been able to get here."

Then Bonnie did something she had never, ever initiated herself, something so utterly uncharacteristic for her.

She grabbed Kim in a crushing hug.

"You know, K, strange as it sounds, I've kinda missed you…and Ron. Where is he, anyway?"

Kim jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "He disappeared with Felix the moment we walked in the door. It's gonna take something ferociously serious to pry those two away from the video game console. Mego, that's a pretty spankin costume. It suits you."

"Please, Kim, just call me Mervin."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Another, very familiar voice called out over the music. Tara had surrendered the mike and some guy Kim didn't recognize was now belting out a tune from the early eighties.

Kim turned toward the source of the voice. The sight that greeted her was oddly familiar, in that she saw something quite similar in the mirror all the time. The hair was definitely much brighter red than hers, and the trousers weren't quite the right shade of olive, but it was very clear the wearer was most def supposed to be Kim Possible.

"I'd ask where in the world you got one of my jumpsuits, but I'm willing to bet that's the one Drew made you wear at Tichu Falls."

"Sherry?" Kim asked, shocked that her former nemesis was standing there.

"Sis?"

"Is that you Mervin? What the heck are you doing here?"

He wrapped a segmented arm around Bonnie's tiny waist. "My girlfriend wanted to come to her hometown party."

"Okay, I expected the Princess to be here, but you? Wow." The surprise hug seemed to be the theme of the evening, as she reached out and warmly embraced her younger brother. "Pretty good outfit there, cheerleader. Did he have to shrink you to get you into it?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I could ask Kim the same thing, since she's obviously poured into hers."

Kim grinned again. That sounded much more like the Bonnie she knew, even if she was the wrong color and her hair was to the middle of her back.

"Is Ammie here?" Kim glanced around, hoping to spot the toddler.

"Nah, she's back home with Drakken. When I found out what the buff…I mean Stoppable was doing, I just had to come here. Do you know how hard it is to find a wig like this?"

"About as hard as it is to find a wig like your hair. I'm gonna have to get Ron to rub my neck when we get home."

"Tell me about it. Dr D's gonna gripe about it, but I'm going to make him do the same thing."

"Wait," Bonnie cut in. "You and Ron are living together?"

"Yeah. We've got an apartment near the campus."

"Wow, who would have thought Miss Perfect would actually move in with somebody before you get married."

Kim put her hand on her hip, though she wasn't really upset. "So not the drama. It was just time. What about you? Still living in dorms?"

"I've got one, but I spend most of my time with Mervin at his house."

Sherry looked a little surprised. "You've got a house? I thought you lived at the tower?"

"Well, it's still in Herman's name, but I'm living back at home now. It's a lot easier for us to spend time together rather than tripping over the twins all the time, plus Herman was giving me hell about it since I was pestering him about installing something to let Bonnie in there when I wasn't home. Hey, maybe later can I come over and meet my niece."

"She'll be long in bed by the time I get home…or at least she better be or I'm gonna skin Drakken. Maybe tomorrow. She's gonna love you. Ever since she found out her name means a purple stone, everything is purple to her."

"That is so cool. Wait a sec. I thought you weren't working for that Drakken guy any more."

"We…you could say we're roommates. Ammie thinks he's her Daddy and that's actually good for her."

"You two aren't…?"

Sherry hesitated for a long moment. "Uh, no, um…it's complicated. Drakken has this notion he has to take care of me or something. Like I need looking after. Moving on." She shot the three of them a look that said she wasn't kidding about wanting to change the subject.

Kim simply figured the normally dark-haired woman simply didn't want anyone thinking she might actually have more than a friendship with her one-time employer. Anything else, well, that was just not something she was actually willing to consider, especially since Drakken, or Drew as she now thought of him, was the same age as her father, and old enough (barely) to be Sherry's father, though it was nice that the little girl she had watched being born had somebody to call that.

* * *

"Aw man, no, come on, this can't be happening!" Ron gave up, letting the controller drop into his lap. He forgot for a moment that he was wearing Dr. Drakken's lab coat, and it bounced off, right into the floor. "Stupid emulator controller."

"Still blaming the controller. Face it, Ron-man, you're getting rusty in your old age." Felix laughed, using one of his extension arms to collect the errant device.

"Who are you calling old? You're older than me…by a few months."

"Looks like you're spending all your time with your hands on something besides a game controller."

"Whoa-ho, me and Kim aren't like that…er, I mean, we are, but that's, er. What was I saying?"

The guy who was perhaps his best friend outside of Kim just grinned at him. "That you'd rather be spending time with the love of your life than playing video games all the time. Come on, Ron, it means you're growing up. I meant it as a compliment."

"Thanks, I guess. I just really don't have as much time to spend on the games like I used to. This last year of school has been one of the toughest things I've ever done, tougher even than that last little bit of the eleventh grade. On top of that, I've got all this stuff with the guys who're building our townhouse, I've got Bueno Nacho wanting to talk to me about things."

"They're not trying to weasel their way out of your royalties again, are they?"

"Nah, nothing like that. I just think they want to capitalize on their investment a little more, you know, get some bang for their buck."

Felix's eyebrow shot up. "Wow, that sounded, I dunno, almost professional."

"Helps I've been taking business courses and all. The culinary part of school's been real easy, at least for me. It's all the rest of the stuff they want you to learn. When I finally achieve my dream of opening my own place, it's not all going to be me sitting in the kitchen cooking stuff all the time. I've got to worry about suppliers, payroll, health inspections, taxes, all that stuff."

"Whoa. Keep all that up, and you'll end up checking that "R" on your voter card."

"Eh, I'm not so big with politics. We both registered as independents since we don't really fit in with either party. Kim thinks it's best to vote for the person, not the team."

"What do you think?"

"I think I'm ready for a rematch. You think a guy with blue skin and a scar and another guy who looks like the undead anyway shouldn't have a problem with a bunch of zombies."

"True. Still, I'm surprised Wade hasn't hacked you an advanced copy of this, complete with cheat codes."

"Cheat codes? Why, Felix Renton, you wound me!"

"Oh, come off it, Rondo. Like I couldn't tell when you were secretly playing in God mode."

"How could you…wait, you mean?"

"Shhhhh. There's a few more gamers here, don't want to ruin my rep."

Ron ran a pair of fingers over his lips. "Mum's the word. Now, should I hit reset, or do you want to do the honors?"

Felix held out a fist. "Rock-Paper-Scissors!"

"You're on, though I never quite understood how flimsy paper could beat the rock."

* * *

Rufus was in hog heaven. Monique had been expecting him, so the moment the Stoppable-Possible team arrived, she scooped him up and took him to the kitchen. In years past, those who didn't know the little guy tended to get a little freaked out about a hairless rodent, even one wearing a Halloween costume, (maybe especially so) running around the snack table.

Instead, she prepared him a platter of his favorite cheeses, all set aside for him on the counter, where he could stuff himself to his heart's content. He was already three-quarters of his way through the plate and was eyeballing the chip bowl on the main table when he caught a whiff some something familiar, and somewhat unexpected.

He knew Shego was at the party the moment they arrived. He still didn't trust the woman, though it did make him feel better that she was no longer trying to defeat his humans. It wasn't her scent he was picking up, but another he had smelled on occasion.

Hopping down off the counter, he started scanning the room. His eyesight was a lot better than the average naked mole rat's, but it still wasn't nearly as sharp as a humans. Still, he could see well enough to get by. Then, just under three years ago, his eyesight started gradually getting better, something he could only guess came from the power he shared with his male human. It never occurred to him that he had that power for quite some time before that started happening, but his mind wasn't capable of that level of deductive reasoning.

It didn't take him long before he spotted the source of the scent, only, it wasn't at all who he was expecting.

It was a female human, a little shorter than Kim and more slimly built. He couldn't see her face, as she was dressed as a hooded ninja, or at least a Hollywood cliché version of one.

She turned and saw him. He was so shocked when he saw her crystal blue eyes he didn't react in time when she scooped him up in her hands.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	21. Chapter 21

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 21**

* * *

"So I'm on the floor, trying to clear my head when I see him riding down the escalator in that black and white tux, just like every single one of Drakken's goons forgot to hang onto him while I was busy with the Princess, and she goes running up to him with her arms wide open, forgetting that so far all she had done was slam me into a beam, all the while with Stoppable watching like a little puppy."

Bonnie took another sip of her drink, eyeing the slightly older woman suspiciously between glances at her boyfriend. She was certainly glad Mervin had explained to her on several occasions that they were both adopted, as she certainly could see any family resemblance between the two of them beyond Sherry "Shego" Godfrey's faint Go City accent. Still, despite her misgivings (beyond the fact she was calmly having drinks with a woman who was once wanted in more than twelve countries) she kept quiet, listening to her story.

"So you can see, I was a bit surprised when I read in some magazine a few weeks later that she was actually dating her sidekick…sorry, don't want her to come over here and go off on me…partner. I thought for sure it was some rebound thing, 'specially since I pretty much figured he had it bad for 'Miss Perfect.'"

"I thought that's what was going on too, but when school started back up the following fall, they were still together, so I don't think it was a rebound thing." Bonnie said, polishing off her glass of punch, appreciating for the moment that somebody had indeed seen fit to add something more than red Kool-aid and pineapple juice to it.

"Honestly, I didn't think she had it in her. If that thing Drakken made was real, I think she would have gotten tired of him after a while and moved on to somebody else, if she even had time. I couldn't picture her as the girlfriend type."

Bonnie's eyes narrowed. "Look, I know you're supposed to be this big enemy of Kim's and all, but I don't think it's right talking behind her back like this."

Sherry's dark eyebrows shot up. Not long after Kim arrived at the party, she had discarded the red wig, letting her own black tresses out. "That sounds kinda funny coming from you, cheerleader. I thought you hated her guts."

The younger woman clenched her teeth momentarily, but a larger hand gave her shoulder a slight squeeze. "You seem to know an awful lot about me, considering we've never even met. Like, for instance, how do you know I'm a cheerleader?"

"Well, I could go into detail about how I know every detail of Kimmie's life, including all her friends _and_ all her enemies, which, by the way, I do, but one of the few things I have in common with Drakken is watching NCAA basketball, and I've seen you on TV, like last spring when GCU made it to the Final Four."

"Oh." Bonnie sunk down into the sofa, disappointed that her ruse had been called out. Then she perked up slightly. "You actually noticed me? On TV?"

"Relax, Middleton. Yeah, I noticed you, but like I said, I knew enough about Punkin to pick you out of the crowd. Besides, you just seem the type. Anyway, don't get on me about ragging on Possible. I still owe her big time for a few things, but that's not where I was going with all this. Yeah, I hated her, especially after she honestly tried to kill me that time, but some things have happened since then. Things that kinda make you put your priorities in order."

"Amethyst?" Mervin asked, passing his drink to Bonnie.

"Yeah…mainly. You see, even though I've tried to beat Kim, even tried to kill her on several occasions, she still helped me try to save Neil…"

"Is that your girl's real father?" She asked, sipping the drink.

"Uh huh. We did save him, but he ended up dying anyway, but that's another story. Then she saved me when I was pregnant, and she was there when Ammie was born."

"You sound like the two of you are becoming friends." The tanned brunette commented.

Sherry hesitated a few moments, biting her lip. "I don't know if we'd ever call each other that. Too much history, but, I dunno. I kept trying to convince myself I was truly evil, and yeah, in some ways I guess I am. It's hard to put into words. Not like I'm gonna change teams or anything like that. You seem to have made peace with her, maybe you understand where I'm coming from."

"If you say we've 'buried the hatchet,' I'm gonna scream." Bonnie laughed, sarcasm gently touching her words. She shot a meaningful glance at Mervin. "Maybe I just had to get away and do some growing up, but I kinda miss her…a little."

"Eh, you probably just miss fighting with her, or whatever the two of you did."

"Could be. Then again, maybe I just want to apologize for the way I was, or something…whatever." She glanced down at her newest, empty cup, but didn't feel like getting up for more. "So, tell me about this little girl of yours. One of these days, I want a family." She gave her boyfriend yet another meaningful glance while he studied the ceiling fan.

"Well, she's two and a half, but everyone says she looks just like me. Her hair's not as dark, more like yours, just a touch darker. She's got her father's eyes, that's for sure. He had the most amazing blue eyes, which was kinda funny since he was at least half Greek. Maybe one of these days I'll go meet his parents again and find out a bit more about them, for Ammie's sake. Maybe. Anyhoo, she's quiet, and the way we live, she doesn't get to be around kids her age very much. Soon I'm going to have to bite the bullet and put her into Pre-K." She locked eyes with Bonnie for a moment, noting the cheerleader's expression. "Don't even say it. I know Princess met Stoppable in Pre-K. I doubt that kinda thing will ever happen again, but if it does…I dunno. So, what's the story on you two? I never figured bean-pole here for the type to hook up with a cheerleader."

"We met at school. What can I say? The sex was really good."

"Bonnie!" Mervin squawked.

"Just seeing if you were paying attention, sweetie." She leaned toward his smirking sister. "It was, but that's not what gave him his 'staying power'…"

"Please, God, take me now." He buried his face in his hands.

"Your brother is one of the sweetest, most loving guys I've ever met."

Sherry snorted. "More like the most self-centered, conceited jerks to ever walk the planet." She smiled warmly at him, half-heartedly saluting him with her own cup, which itself had been refilled several times.

"I was, uh, kind of the same way. Guess we sort of cancel each other out."

"Whatever. Hey, don't get me wrong, the two of you look good together. Hope you two have lots of little purple, glowing babies, if 'Merv' here ever gets off the pot and makes like Kimmie's old boyfriend." She nodded toward another part of the room, where Kim and Ron were animatedly chatting with a buxom blonde and her new fiancé, a brown-haired boy with a build similar Ron's. They all had followed suit and applauded when he took the stage, and instead of starting another set with his band, dropped to one knee and pulled out a ring box.

Sherry couldn't help but be wishful. That was something that had happened to her once before, but at the time she was still in her teens and wasn't ready for that kind of commitment. Hindsight being what it was, she was constantly kicking herself for that, especially since her lifestyle made it highly unlikely it would ever happen again, or, if it did, it was likely to be Drakken…

…if he got some strange notion in his head that the couple times they…acted like more than just friends meant more than it actually did.

She popped her forehead a couple times, trying to get that image out of her mind. The first time they had been slightly drunk, or at least she had. She really couldn't explain the others, and wasn't about to go into that with her brother sitting there. Mervin was really close to his oldest brother and if it got back to him that her roommate was becoming more than that…

"I just can't get over the fact the two of them were living together." Bonnie remarked. "Well, almost. I kinda figured the two of them were going at it non-stop when they first got together, but it turned out Kim was more of a prude than I ever thought."

"Hah." Sherry took a look in the bottom of her empty cup, wishing there was something in it, preferably something a little stronger than the supposedly spiked punch. Like a Long Island Iced Tea. "You should have seen the two of them when they stayed at Neil's beach house. They were trying to be quiet, but since it was summer, we had all the doors open and I have a tendency to walk around during the night. Old Stoppable was making the princess happy. Very happy, but that's not the best part."

Bonnie's eyebrows shot up. She really wanted to hear that.

"Apparently they both fell asleep pretty quickly, cause somebody started snoring loud enough to rattle the windows."

"I always figured he was a snorer. Just like Kim to sleep through his racket without a problem, when she had to go on about my snoring at Cheer Camp."

Sherry just shook her head. "Uh-uh. Stoppable apparently mutters in his sleep, stuff about monkeys. It was Kimmie who was sawing the logs. I had to go back to my room and hold my sides to keep from waking the whole house up with my laughing, though in hindsight, I guess if Stoppable and Neil could sleep through the snoring, they could sleep through a nuclear attack."

Bonnie shot another glance over at her former rival, smiling wickedly.

* * *

"Let me see it again." Kim said, holding her hand out toward Tara.

The platinum blonde just beamed, displaying the glittering bauble. It was slightly smaller than Kim's, and didn't have emeralds flanking the diamond, but it was still amazing that a starving artist and drug-store manager like Josh could afford something like that at all.

That particular individual had pried himself loose from his new fiancé, ostensibly to join Ron and Felix at the video game console, though the women all knew it was just an excuse to escape from a hen session. Kim had to smile about that. Ron was so different from other guys sometimes. Maybe it came from growing up with a girl as his best friend. He could chatter away with them just like he was one of the girls, and often did, unless something existed that took precedence.

Video games, pizza and a chance to hang with his male best friend could do that.

"I'm so excited. Josh has been so romantic lately, I just knew he was working up the nerve to ask me. We even went to _L'Orange_ last night…and no, Kim, the power didn't go off."

"That would have been a nice place to propose too." She said, pulling the hot black wig off and stuffing it to the side.

"I think he meant to, but I know Joshie. I bet he had his hand on the box, then realized he would have a chance to do it in public where he knew I'd say yes."

Monique laughed softly. "I bet if he just asked you offhand driving to the store you'd have jumped on it."

"Don't you know it. But this is better. Way better."

Kim leaned back on the stairs where they were all sitting. "Any idea when you're going to set a date?"

Tara shot her old teammate a glance. "You worried we're going to get in a race to the alter?"

"Not the drama, Tara. Just interested. I don't see the two of you in a long, drawn out engagement like Ron and me."

"No, I guess not. I'm thinking June…next year. I've always dreamed of being a June bride."

Kim nodded. "I used to, but Ron's got his heart set on Independence Day."

"I don't understand why you two just don't go ahead and get married. You've got a nice little place, you…"

"Hey, don't start on me about 'living in sin.' I got enough of that from Dad, even though he's the one who suggested we get our own place." Kim was blushing crimson.

Tara looked slightly embarrassed. "That's not what I meant. I mean the two of you are so right for each other, why wait?"

"I dunno. It seems like we could have gotten married right after we turned eighteen, but it just didn't feel right then. It still took us years to get to this point. I'm all about right place and time, and I think the time will be right next summer."

Tara clasped her hands together, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't think I can wait much longer. Mrs. Joshua Wendell Mankey, kinds of has a nice ring to it."

Monique met Kim's eyes. There had been times in the past when those same words had come from the young redhead's lips, though that had been a teenaged crush talking at the time. Kim caught the look, understanding what her friend was thinking, and just as wisely kept that to herself.

Ron wandered over, leaning on the banister. "Hey, Kim, have you seen Rufus?"

"No. Not since we got here." She swirled the ice in her glass of cola, caressing his hand gently.

"Look in the kitchen. I made him a cheese platter, though he might have moved on to the snack table by now." Monique said, nodding toward the open door to the kitchen.

"No, looked there already."

"He probably stuffed himself silly and is somewhere sleeping it off." Kim said. "The party's starting to wind down, he'll show up when we get ready to go."

"I hope so, KP. I was just hoping he'd join us for some four-way zombie bashing."

"Well, keep looking. I'm about ready to go home and get this paint off of me." She caressed his hand again, indicating just how she wanted the coloring scrubbed off.

"Kay, babe." He wandered off, looking in and around the furniture and the few guests still lounging about.

"So, Monique, what about you and Felix? Don't tell me the two of you aren't ready to mix it up?" Tara asked, fidgeting in the ultra-short costume dress.

"Eh, I can see us getting hitched somewhere down the road. We're not in that big a hurry, since we're still finishing up school and all."

"Bet you two enjoy catching up when you do get away." The lascivious grin on the blonde looked completely out of place, though both women knew her choice to wait for marriage had nothing to do with any kind of lack of desire on her part.

"Don't you know it, girl. Sometimes I even forget he's in a wheelchair when it comes to our special times, though, I gotta tell you, that chair of his can take some real punishment, if you know what I mean."

"TMI, Moni." Kim sing-songed.

"More like NEI…not enough info." Tara said, her smile getting even wider.

"Let's just say I don't have to do all the work like I did at first, and we'll leave it at that." Monique laughed. "Like they say, where there's a will, there's a way, and Felix has a lot of will."

Kim took a long drink of her cola, wishing she actually had some of that punch, extra ingredient included.

* * *

Rufus was frightened, but only because he was so confused. The woman cradling him to her chest had a very distinct, familiar smell to her, but it didn't fit with his mental image of the person he thought she was. She was simply too big and too old to be who he was thinking of.

Still, he wasn't afraid of her for some reason. She held him the same way, gently stroking the top of his head. The touch was so warm, so soothing, making him want to curl up and dream his little mole rat dreams. It was like being back in the colony where he was born, among other mole rats. His eyes closed and he slipped into those dreams. Images of tunnels, with little chambers where his kind would huddle to conserve their warmth. In the wild, in their proper, natural setting, naked mole rats were much like cold-blooded creatures, depending on the warmth of their climate to survive. Maybe something in him had changed, since he could survive long periods away from his human's pocket without becoming too chilled.

The dream changed. He was being held in the arms of a quiet little girl who had not yet reached her third birthday. Two people he once thought were his human's greatest enemies were close by, but he still wasn't frightened. That danger had passed.

Something about the little girl felt so right to him, as if her being was somehow flowing into his. At nearly a decade old, he still had a lot of life to live, but the years were starting to tell on him, though just a little. He slept a bit more, and moved a tad slower, but somehow, in that child's embrace those years melted away from him, making him feel like he did when he was in his prime.

The dream shifted again, and he had an image of being curled up back in the tunnels, sleeping beside a queen mole rat, their brood all around them. Yet, they didn't look like normal mole rats. They were larger, with big, bright eyes. There was intelligence behind those eyes, intelligence even beyond his own advanced intellect.

Then the shaking started. The dream was whisked away as he was jolted back to the real world. The warmth was gone, though he still felt significantly better than he did earlier that evening. The other smells came back to his sensitive nose. The remnants of the cheese platter, the swirl of human scents wafting around, the tang of the alcohol that had been in some of the drinks.

He was back on the kitchen counter.

Ron was gently nudging him. "Come on, old buddy. Time for us to head home. KP wants her some Ronshine, and you know I'm all too happy to oblige."

Rufus blinked twice at his human. The woman who had picked him up, the dreams, all of that slowly faded from his memory.

All of that was replaced with the bittersweet knowledge that he was about to go home with his beloved humans, but would very likely be spending the night curled up in the pillows on the couch so they could have some private time.

Just like most nights.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	22. Chapter 22

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 22**

* * *

When it's time to relax… 

Kim couldn't help but think of an old beer commercial as she let her body ease down into the tub, the water rising up to her shoulders, her hair floating out to the sides in the nearly scalding water. If there was one thing she really appreciated about her tiny apartment, it was the modern bathroom. Oh, it would probably pale in comparison when their townhouse was ready, but it was worlds better than the small one in the house she grew up in. To think that was supposed to be the main bathroom for the house before her parents had their own, private luxury bath put in. The tub itself was barely big enough and she was not an especially large person.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons she normally took showers when the primary focus was on simply getting clean. Besides, with two little brothers who could burst in at any moment, it was nicer to be behind a shower curtain anyway, not that they didn't try certain things from time to time involving remote control servos on the curtain-rod and their ubiquitous digital cameras.

Even though she was taking some serious 'me' time that morning, there really seemed like there was so much to do. Before too long her cozy little home (why is it that small apartments are called cozy? Is that code for 'I wish we had more room?') was going to be invaded by two whole families, and that wasn't just both their parents and siblings, but the respective significant others of the latter, plus Joss and her 'beau.'

It was more than just a dinner party. That she had managed to pull off on a couple of occasions, with the minor faux pas passing due to the company. The first had been a quiet dinner with the Katz's and the Graysons, dinner made all the more interesting since it turned out the two clergymen were actually good drinking buddies, while their wives constantly tried to one-up the other with the exploits of their similarly aged children. The other had been a 'girl's night' affair when Monique and several of the old cheer squad had been in town. In retrospect, maybe kicking Ron out of the apartment that evening had been a bad idea. What was supposed to be a simple meal of pot roast ended up being delivery pizza, though the girls really didn't care.

Ron did, since he had set everything up and all Kim had to do was turn the respective appliances on and set the timers. Oh well. It was easy enough to confuse the clock on the microwave and the one on the stove, and why was 'broil' so easy to get to on the oven? What was the difference anyway, heat was heat? Yet, the look on his face when he saw the ruin of his preparations when he got home later that night told her that, as the woman who could do anything, she still choked when food was involved. Well, maybe choked wasn't a good choice of words when it came to her cooking.

That was one of the reasons that, despite all the preparations for that special day, Kim had the time for a long, relaxing bath before everyone arrived. The holiday centered around food, and lots of it. The smells were starting to permeate their small living quarters, as Ron had been slow-cooking some of his dishes since the night before. Perhaps some of their neighbors were getting ready for the day as well. She had been told at least one of the tenants had tried a deep-fried turkey the year before. The landscapers had apparently done a bang-up job of repairing the scorched earth that resulted. At least she wasn't the only one capable of culinary disasters.

Kim knew better than to attempt cooking something with that much potential for napalm-like flammability.

Still, she was a little put out about Ron that morning, and besides the fact he was in full chef-mode already, that was one of the reasons he was not sharing the wide, deep garden tub with her. It was a rare thing for her to be mad enough at him not to want some help soaping up some of the harder to reach spots. In fact, she had invited him to join her anyway. There was more than enough room for his lanky frame in there, and despite his 'meanness' she really could go for a nice dose of "Ronshine." The holidays afforded them a rare moment when they weren't up to their ears in school work or any one of a dozen other activities they were involved in. Instead, he rattled off a list of thing she needed to get to work on right away, and not even a partial version of the puppy dog pout (and casually letting her bathrobe slip off one shoulder) could deter him from his appointed duties as the main food preparer of their household.

He jokingly commented that, perhaps, in the interest of safety, Wade should come over and set up a force-field around the kitchen, keyed to Kim's tracking chip. That way, if she tried to get into the kitchen during the preparations, she would be stopped, and the apartment building, even their side of town, would be spared the potential disaster. Perhaps he was joking. She had little doubt that their friend and tech-guru could actually contrive something like that. It would be so wrong if all she wanted to do was go in there and pour herself a glass of juice and she bounced off.

As it was, he did put up some yellow safety tape around the aforementioned section of their apartment.

Thanksgiving dinner was normally held at her parents house, and it had been for as long as she could remember. She had to wonder exactly what Ron's parents had done that day in years past, since he was pretty much at her table by dinnertime anyway, though they had started coming to the elder Possible's house ever since the two of them had become engaged. They never seemed to mind that he always ate with Kim's family, making her wonder if they actually celebrated the holiday at all in their home.

Her childhood home seemed perfect for such gatherings, with the large table stretched out to it's full capacity (with not one, but two leaves added to it.) Maybe that was one of the reasons the apartment was starting to feel so cramped. Even with a family of five, plus the ever-present Ron they never seemed crowded there.

Crowding was just something she was going to have to deal with for the greater part of the day. Somebody, a blonde-haired, freckled young man whose name shall not be mentioned, suggested that, since it was the first Thanksgiving in their new home, they should return the favor and host the celebration that year. Apparently, he still didn't have much of a head for math, since that entailed squeezing thirteen people into an apartment that two were starting to feel a little close in. Even though it would only be for a few hours, they were going to be tripping over each other practically the whole time.

The first hurdle was the table. They didn't so much have a real dining room, but a portion of their kitchen housed a table meant for up to four. Six if the leaf was put in, though there really wasn't enough room for that. There were two stools at the 'bar,' where they normally had breakfast, but Ron was adamant about something. CJ, his little sister, was not going to be shuffled off to a 'children's table' in his own 'house,' especially since the other 'children' were all in their late teens and would be there with girlfriends and boyfriends.

The only solution, it turned out, was to borrow a long, folding table and set it up in the den. That meant moving most of their other furniture into the spare bedroom, including the couch. Kim had been all for moving the entertainment center as well, though Ron wouldn't hear anything of it. Certain other traditions had to be upheld, and that included all the men watching football until their eyes bled (or they slipped into a turkey-induced coma.) At least they hadn't been forced to rent the extra furniture. It would be a long while before all their favors had been burned up.

Kim inhaled deeply, enjoying the fragrant scent of the steam filling the small, but well appointed room. The snow had come early that year, but it was the kind of picturesque blanketing of the landscape that left the roads nice and clear, simply turning the yards and trees white. It made her wish the large window in their bathroom was made of clear, rather than frosted glass so she could see the landscape, drinking in the beauty of it while being completely warm in a tub full of water that was just a couple degrees below scalding.

She slowly dunked her head, plastering all of her considerable auburn mane to her head. A mental note was made to pick up some fresh candles for the next time the two of them had time to enjoy a bath together, though she didn't relish the thought of venturing into the mall the next day, even if _Rebel Candle Company_ had the best. Kim loved shopping, but "Black Friday" was too much like a full-on combat mission for her tastes.

Ron liked to joke that shopping then was best done with a baseball bat in one hand and a trashcan lid in the other, though good old fashioned metal lids had pretty much been gone long before they were even born. Running around with a plastic, dome-shaped lid didn't quite have the same effect.

Kim sat up with a little start. Christmas was a month away and she hadn't even bought the first thing for it. Ron would actually be easy. For him, all she had to do was call Wade and he would clue her in to the latest and greatest video game. He had even gone so far as to say being with her was the greatest gift any man would wish for, but she knew better.

Hopefully he knew the same, since she said that right back to him. Ron had proven himself to be a hopeless romantic when it came to her, and she was looking forward to whatever gift he came up with.

She almost chased him out into the street when he made her gift the year before look like a stack of "Bueno Buck" books.

The thought of all that shopping was daunting, even to a seasoned pro like herself. It was one thing to wander the shops looking for something to strike her fancy, but it was quite another when she was actually looking for something special.

With so many to buy for, she was rapidly running out of ideas.

At least the bulk of the Stoppables were fairly simple. Hanukah gifts, by their nature, were small things. GJ especially would be simple, since she was given to liking those dress-up dolls with the big heads and enormous eyes. The things actually gave her the creeps, but at least she wasn't wanting one of those impossibly thin, more traditional dolls. Kim didn't even like those herself when she was a little girl, preferring plush.

Thinking about Ron's family gave her pause for other reasons. She was getting to the point when she was going to have to say something, either to Ron, or to his father herself. It was impossible to imagine that Jean hadn't noticed Gene's appearance. The normally vibrant, if slightly heavyset man looked like a shadow of himself. His face was washed out and he had dark circles under his eyes. Ron never spoke of it that much, but she knew that he did have a minor heart condition, something to do with a murmur he had most of his life, something that forced him to take medication and to endure a round of antibiotics every time he had dental work.

She had seen it before. Something was wrong and either nobody had noticed the gradual change, or nobody wanted to invade his privacy to tell him about it, but she couldn't just stand by and do nothing forever. Gene had said himself that he considered her a daughter, though it wouldn't be legal for some months yet. Wouldn't it then be her duty to act? Not only for his sake, but for Ron's as well. His family might not have been as closely knit as hers, but they were still his, and by extension, hers as well.

If only she knew how to broach the subject.

It had her worried for other reasons as well. Ron was perfectly healthy, or so he appeared, but he was just as prone, if not more so, to bad habits as his father. Even in the short time since they had gone off missions, he had already started lapsing, ever so slightly. It didn't help that a great deal of his time a school was spent learning to prepare gourmet dishes, or that he basically could get free food for life at Bueno Nacho. Sure, she had been something of an enabler during their youth with the fast-food mega-company, but if he was predisposed to problems like his father had, it was that much more important that he be careful with what he consumed.

She tried to force those thoughts out of her mind. Sure, they were all important, but at that particular moment she was supposed to be relaxing, letting the perfumed water take all those worries away from her, at least for the time she was soaking in it. That was the whole point of the bath, wasn't it? If she merely wanted to rinse away the sweat and grime of the previous day and their usual evening of fun, then she would have simply taken a quick shower instead.

About the moment she got her head clear of those uncomfortable thoughts, she realized sitting in rapidly cooling bath water alone was kind of boring. There were indeed things to do. Ron might have been handling all the food, but there was a table to set up, as well as those things her beloved would actually need help with (granted, with close supervision.) As long as he was there, she was safe (as was their side of town) to be in the kitchen.

Plucking the plug with her toes, she rose from the water, reaching for the towel resting on the closed toilet. That's when she realized she had not been in the room alone after all.

Rufus looked up from his nap on the decorative basket of towels, regarding her for a second before laying his head back down. Thinking logically about it, there really was no reason for her to be self-conscious about him seeing her getting out of the tub like that. After all, he was a _naked_ mole rat. He probably thought it strange that humans covered their own pinkish flesh all the time anyway. Now, if she had been a female naked mole rat…

That thought made her smile slightly. Rufus thinking naughty thoughts about his own kind was especially funny, though it made her wonder if he regretted not spending any of his life with his own kind. He seemed happy enough, though somehow she thought it sad they weren't surrounded by his progeny at that point. As smart as he was, she had no doubt his children would be extra-special, though she just couldn't shake a strange mental image of a much larger, talking version of Ron's friend.

Unfortunately, his resting place was going to be disturbed. The large towel was quickly soaked as she dried herself off and she needed another to wrap around her soggy hair. There were times, just like that moment, when she thought that maybe her mother had the right idea. She hadn't gotten it cut since the end of summer and it was growing faster than she expected and it took so much time to take care of. Her luxurious halo of auburn red just didn't simply happen, it took work, and careful attention, lest it turn into a limp, stringy mess of split ends. Perhaps after their wedding she would take the route so many women did, getting their hair bobbed short so it would be so much easier to take care of.

She could just imagine Ron's face when she came home from the hairdresser, though she wasn't quite sure if he would be horrified or turned on by it. Knowing him, it would probably be both.

He most def would make some comment about her having 'married hair.'

That wasn't going to happen that day, nor any time soon. Kim liked her hair and liked it, as Ron would say, flippy. That still meant taking the time to dry it by hand and brush it out, so she got Rufus to get up by tickling his chin and started to work on it with a fresh towel.

* * *

Ron usually liked his kitchen. 

It was his workshop, his refuge, his sanctum sanctorum. Sure, Kim could throw something into the microwave…usually, but when it came to the stove and the oven and his collection of nice small appliances, it was all his. The dark red Kitchen-aid mixer on the counter was an especially prized possession of his, something he knew his fiancé would likely never touch unless he begged her to do so. Actually, she did touch it, and often, but not to turn it on. She might have been one of the bravest people on the planet, but she wasn't so brave she would test fate by activating a device she knew hated her with all its being.

No, her touching it was all about putting it away. To Ron, it was a work of art that belonged out in the open, ready to be used when he was preparing one of their meals. To Kim, it was simply a tool that had a place in the cabinets when not in use. Beyond that, he knew she had this notion that it was mocking her, and the only way to silence it was to put it out of sight.

Kim would put it away, and Ron would get it back out. Outside of his cooking time, this was always done when alone. He would come into the kitchen and find it missing, while Kim would come in and find it mysteriously back on the counter. A little war was brewing over the appliance.

Ron sometimes considered getting Dr. Freeman to put one together for him. Then it would call out whenever she wanted to remove it from its place of honor. Then again, perhaps it would learn to mock her for real. The good doctor's cybertronic creations weren't known for having the most glowing of personalities. When he once suggested her PT cruiser get an AI like S.A.D.I.E., she flatly refused.

The safety tape had come down in only minutes, but that was simply because the joke had been seen, appreciated and he didn't want to milk it too much. He knew it was time to be treading lightly with her, and even though he wanted a little help in the kitchen after all, letting her go ahead and take a bath that morning was a very wise decision. Over the years he had learned some things about Kim, and his survival instinct told him that for the next few days what Kim wants, Kim gets.

Except when it came to the turkey.

The bird was sitting in a pan, spices rubbed into its skin, ready to be put into the oven. It was the largest one he had ever attempted cooking himself, though he had every confidence it would turn out perfectly. It wasn't going to be as pretty when it came out as the pictures on all the ads for the holiday, but what was most important was how it tasted. One could have the perfect, golden brown bird, or one could have a juicy, melt in your mouth holiday treat.

The secret was in cooking it most of the way with the breast down. That cut down on the nicer outer color when he was done, but gravity made things all that much juicier. He also knew that, while stuffing looked nice and cool, everything tasted better if he served it on the side as dressing, though he would use the drippings to make it.

All that was well and good, except for one thing.

There was a turkey junky living amongst them. If he didn't stay on top of the oven at all times, it would constantly be opened, a knife coming out to trim some golden edge off of it, no matter how much more time it had to be ready. No dire warnings about getting worms, or spoiling of appetites would avail.

No, it wasn't Rufus. Now, if it was stuffed with cheese, that might be a different story, and he was prone to filling his surprisingly roomy belly with it nonetheless, but he wasn't the one who couldn't wait for it to be ready to carve.

It was Kim.

He had seen her in action first-hand and actually thought it was quite funny watching Mom P hustling her from the kitchen, but this wasn't her mother roasting it this year, it was him, and the duty of guarding the oven had fallen to him.

Kim might have been looking forward to their living quarters and bathroom when their home was finally ready next year, but it was the kitchen that really whet his appetite. Nice as the little area of the apartment was, it was nothing compared to the gleaming stainless steel kitchens at school. There he had room to move, and underclassmen serving as his assistants when he had a large project under way. The limitations of what he was starting to refer to as a 'kitchenette' were very stark with the feast he was attempting.

That meant a little extra planning on his part, as well as dishes that could be prepared ahead of time, then re-heated while the big bird rested.

Ron should have been having the time of his life. He was in his element, doing what he loved to do the most.

Yet, his mind was not at ease.

Over the last months he had been noticing things, things he could no longer in good conscience ignore. The problem was he had no idea how to proceed. Things like that simply were not talked about, or if it was, it was in such terms that it could be brushed off easily.

The day was about giving thanks, but how could he be thankful if the possibility that somebody he loved dearly could be taken away from him.

Ron put the bird into the oven and leaned on the bar, looking out into the den…

…at the booster chair that had been set up for his little sister.

* * *

a/n - I've posted a drawing of Kim and Ron done up as Drakken and Shego over at DeviantArt. As usual, it can be accessed through the link on my profile. I've also recently done a picture of Kim on the couch in their apartment, as well as coloring one of Ivymae's fantastic pencil drawings of Kim and Ron having a tender moment.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	23. Chapter 23

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 23**

* * *

Crowded wasn't really a good way to describe the apartment.

If it hadn't been for a light, cold drizzle that was turning the snow into so much muddy slush they would have probably opted for taking the entire celebration out into the small yard the postage stamp sized deck overlooked. As it was, at least inside they could stay relatively warm and dry. Well, dry, at least. At first the chill in the air tended to reinforce just how ineffectual the heating in the place. Coupled with the fact it had to be one of the very few homes in Middleton that did not have a fireplace and it became a recipe for constantly wearing sweaters and such.

Cram twelve people into a space two found close, however, and heat really isn't all that much of an issue.

The two of them had already broken out their holiday sweaters, a month earlier than normal. Kim, who would still wear a crop top in the dead of winter, was wearing a dark blue v-neck with a white turtleneck beneath it. Ron was supposed to be wearing a matching outfit, but had opted instead for his old blue and white sweater with tiny Stars of David on the white band. Kim shot him a mildly disapproving look when they changed into their celebratory clothing from the 'around the home' clothes they had worn the first part of the day. The thing was old and ratty, at least to her eye, though neither of them could quite bring themselves to part with the older clothes. There was a special meaning behind it, one that hearkened back to that one Christmas when he tried to stop Drakken all by himself, but it was the events of the previous winter that carried the greatest sentimental attachment for the two of them.

In fact, Kim couldn't help but think of the time she had been sitting in a small room with a dome-shaped window, wearing that very sweater when Ron came to her. What had happened just prior to that moment, and then afterwards was something she had only shared with her mother, and it was part of the many reasons she loved Ron so deeply.

If only he would be as willing to admit as she was that the time for him to wear it in public was long past.

Kim finally got to sit down once they got everyone situated around the table. At first, Ron had been all about setting up all the food on the kitchen table and serving it buffet style, but it became clear pretty quickly that everyone trooping through the apartment carrying heavily laden plates of food was a recipe for disaster approaching 'Kim in the Kitchen' magnitude. So, they were forced to pile everything on the long, folding table they had set up in the den.

She was seated with Ron on one side, and CJ on the other. The little girl looked somewhat put-out by having to wear a dress, and Kim could just about agree with her sentiment, to a degree (which is why she was in a sweater and nice slacks.) Little Catherine Jean would likely be much happier if she was wearing a pair of jeans and one of Ron's childhood t-shirts, though besides her looking much like him at that age, the similarities came to a screeching halt at that point. She seemed like she was going to be a little tom-boy. At three she was already utterly fearless. Ron even had a moment when she went with Kim and him to Smarty Mart, and she climbed right onto the mechanical horse just outside, begging her big brother for a quarter.

In the end, it was Ron who needed a rescue that day, basically needing Kim to shake him out of a violent flashback involving the little cheap ride and lost teeth. Well, baby teeth.

Joss, who normally, uh, well…normally she just wouldn't (and perhaps couldn't) shut up, was oddly quiet throughout the meal. The reason became obvious very quickly, since her teal eyes rarely left those of her boyfriend's. Kim was certain the two of them would try to disappear at any moment for some serious making out (or more.) Part of her was glad that the spare bedroom was filled up with most of their den furniture, though, given her recollection of being eighteen and having a steady boyfriend, that might not prove to be a problem for the young couple. Just watching the two of them together she had the distinct impression they were going to start lovingly feeding each other at any moment, though they kept things respectfully restricted to meaningful glances.

Kim strongly suspected there was much 'footsie' being played under the table. That was pretty much what she had done with Ron when they were about that age during large family meals..

It was hard to believe that the two of them had had a 'break-up' level fight only two weeks earlier. That was, if you didn't know they constantly had those fights, then made up. The younger Possible had confided in Kim that a lot of that 'making up' involved something else and had even gone so far as to ask for her help in acquiring more effective precautions in that matter. She ended up telling her cousin that she would very likely have to go through he mother, or simply get her own local doctor. It wasn't really the problem Joss made it out to be, since she was, after all, legally an adult.

The jury was still out on how she felt about Joss' boyfriend. He seemed to be a pretty good guy, but their first meeting tended to color her overall impression. Early in their relationship, Joss had called Kim on her cell phone, panicking after misinterpreting some of his moves on a date, reminding her of her traumatic first time. Not knowing any better, she had charged into the sitch fearing the worst. Logically, she knew things had not been that bad that night, and that their relationship had progressed at a natural pace until they were ready to talk about precautions and such. Still, the fights did sound a touch troubling.

Kim took solace in the fact that she had some real doozies with Ron over the years and their bond was a strong as it ever was.

Ron nudged her with his own foot. For half a moment she thought he was trying to play footsie with her as well (which, after all, would be absolutely welcome in her book) but it turned out he was just trying to get her attention.

"Think now would be a good time for me to start reciting lines from _European Vacation_?" He whispered.

Kim shot him a look. The movie was actually older than they were, but they had spent the night before watching it on cable, so she knew exactly which scene he was speaking of. Even though she somewhat agreed that the two teens looked like the young married couple in the restaurant, she was sure Bobby wasn't about to 'pork her.'

Not to mention there had already been plenty of embarrassment from the other members of her generation that day.

Tim's girlfriend, who he had been with for some time by that point, relatively speaking, was there with him. She was a slight Asian girl who was the pure definition of petite, making Kim and Joss look almost plump and buxom in comparison. They had been very tempted when the two first started dating to visit upon him the same kind of ridicule the twins had heaped on them, but by that point it seemed rather immature to do so. Kim knew how their relationship had progressed, but, as it turned out, he was fairly private about his love life, and the strongest PDA they displayed was holding hands at every chance.

Jim, on the other hand, had arrived alone since his respective girlfriend felt obligated to attend her own family's gathering that day, cutting the expected crowd down to twelve instead of thirteen. To say he was a bit disappointed was an understatement.

In an attempt to mollify his feelings, he reverted to his earlier, less mature form. Then again, he was just seventeen, even though, like his twin, he had started college a year early.

Just as Tam, Tim's girlfriend, was about to sit down on the futon couch, Jim got a very funny expression on his face and said. "You know, I bet Kim and Ron have had sex there."

The whole apartment went dead silent there for a moment, and Kim wasn't quite sure who turned the reddest, Tam or her. Even Ron, who once professed that nothing ever embarrassed him, turned slightly pink. Thankfully, only her mother was in earshot at the moment, standing in the kitchen helping her fiancé with the final meal preparation. Ron's parents hadn't arrived yet and her father was, thankfully, not in the room at the moment.

The worst of it, for Kim, and very likely for Ron as well, was the fact her younger brother was right. Then, to her utter mortification, Jim started repeating the statement for every place his sibling's significant other tried to sit down.

Anne shot her daughter a soft, knowing smile, which still didn't help all that much. What he was assuming (correctly, by the way) was that the young couple had spent their first few days in their new apartment 'christening' each room.

Thankfully, it turned, as intended, into just a joke when he pronounced the borrowed table and folding chairs as previous 'Ronshine' spots.

Ron looked like he could crawl inside the Turkey's cavity himself, and Kim wouldn't be far behind him, though that would just have given him all that much more ammunition.

It was clear, however, that nobody but nobody subscribed to the fiction that Kim had her own room. Even with all the extra furniture piled in there at the moment, it was clear the room was barely ever used, to the point that, if she really thought about it, they should abandon the idea completely and convert it into an office where Ron could do the written portion of his school work in privacy, instead of spreading out on the coffee table as was his custom.

Mercifully, he finally shut up about the issue when Ron's parents appeared, especially since they came in with his precocious little sister.

The little embarrassments aside, the dinner was going off exceedingly well. The food was good (another understatement – Ron, being a Thanksgiving aficionado, had really outdone himself) and everyone seemed to be having a good time. So good, another male Possible found himself teasing the young couple about their living arrangements.

"So, Ronald, how many times a week do you find yourself thinking about sneaking out of your room at night?" James was waving his half-eaten drumstick as if to make a point. Early in the meal, it looked like he was actually going to come to playful blows with his daughter over that particular part of the bird until Ron pointed out there were actually two of them, not to mention a ton of thigh meat in addition to more white than the whole table could actually eat. Kim had finally given in, though it was all done in fun and not an actual serious competition.

"Sneaking out?" Kim blurted, her mouth still half-full. "Why would he sneak out of our…" She stopped suddenly as the smile appeared on her father's face. He had no illusions about the nature of their relationship and had actually been the first one to suggest they get the place together anyway, but he still liked to rib her about the strict way she was brought up as a child.

Things took another embarrassing turn when the guys started getting into a discussion about how women were built. It all started when Gene made a comment about how turkeys were bred so they were pretty much all breast. Well, it didn't take long for that to head south, especially since, with the exception of Jean, the women seated at the table were built to modest proportions.

It didn't take long for Anne to launch into a tirade about augmentation. That, mercifully, didn't last all that long, since everyone at the table had very similar opinions where that was concerned. Kim wisely kept it to herself that, on a couple occasions, she had broached that very subject with Ron. That had been much earlier in their relationship, when she was a bit more self-conscious about how she looked for him. It didn't take long to discover he not only liked how she was, but he found it 'totally badical.'

Sensing a touch of discomfort in the air, Gene launched into a favorite joke on the subject. Jean apparently knew what was coming, choosing that moment to busy herself with reloading her plate with dressing and cranberry sauce. "A young woman was very self-conscious about her endowments, but was deathly afraid of augmentation surgery. One day, a friend of hers told her about a strange little fellow in a certain part of town who worked wonders, without every laying a hand on his customers. You know, no surgery, cutting or any of that.

"So, she screwed up her courage and went to pay him a visit. It turned out he was an old witch-doctor who practiced what other cultures would call the dark arts. Black magic, voodoo, that kind of thing. Witch doctory stuff and all. He took a good look at her and said she was perfect for his procedure, so he worked his spells on her, danced around her and finally pronounced that it was done.

"She looked in the mirror, but was disappointed that nothing had happened. Her accoutrements remained exactly as they had been when she came in. Even though she really didn't believe in all that magic hocus pocus stuff, she secretly had her hopes up.

"It doesn't work quite like that." The strange man said to her. "For the magic to work, you must interact with your fellow man. For the next twenty-four hours, anyone who says "Pardon" to you will cause them to grow."

"She thought that was strange and was having a hard time believing him, but she paid the man anyway. Thinking it was just a loss, she wasn't paying attention as she walked out into the street, bumping into a gentleman as he passed.

"Pardon me." He said kindly, and went on his way." Gene's grin started getting a little wider as the tale went on.

"To her amazement, her shirt got a little tighter.

"Wanting to test the spell out, she made her way to the busier streets of downtown, deliberately bumping into people. Not everyone was so nice as the gentleman, but eventually she got enough people to say it that she had the results she had been looking for.

"She was so happy, she called her boyfriend so they could go on a date and she could show off her new body. He picked her up and took her to her favorite restaurant, the Peking Moon.

"On her way in, she was too busy paying attention to her boyfriends reactions and bumped into a waiter.

"'A thousand pardons.' The waiter said."

He paused, holding his hands up in mid-gesture. The only sound in the room was Rufus chewing his way through a plate of dressing.

"Oh, come on, people. The paper said the next day the waiter had been killed by what looked like two torpedos."

Jean buried her face in her hands.

Then, Kim giggled.

That managed to set the whole table off then, everyone getting over the fact that four of the women at the table might have been offended.

Gene looked over at Tim's girlfriend, suddenly remembering that, even though she didn't have any kind of accent and acted totally American, she was in fact Asian. "I'm sorry about the stereotype, Miss Tam. It's an old joke."

"That's okay, Mister Stoppable." She laughed. "I'm Vietnamese anyway. Besides, I'm the last person who'd ever care about people being politically correct just on my account."

Of course, the joke opened a veritable flood-gate of off-color jokes, mostly at the expense of women and totally coming from the mouths of those possessing 'y' chromosomes. Then, considering she was raised almost exclusively around men, Joss started in as well.

"Oh my stars and garters, I was riden' ole Nelly!" she finished off, almost causing her cousins to roll out of their folding chairs.

Gene was laughing so hard he was pounding on the table, partly because of the joke itself, and partly because Jean had taken a sip of her tea just as Joss delivered the punch-line. She narrowly missed spraying Anne.

Kim spared CJ a glance. The toddler was laughing and carrying on along with the rest of them, though it was pretty much certain that everything that was being said was going straight over her head. She was just reacting along with the rest of them.

"Oh man." Gene wiped his eyes, which had teared up from the laughter. "Ronnie, I'm afraid my back teeth are floating."

"End of the hall, Dad." He pointed over the crowd toward the room Tam had assiduously avoided since Jim made his earlier pronouncements about Kim's and Ron's (mostly) nighttime activities.

"Excuse me, but I've got to go water the lilies." He said with a chuckle, pushing the chair back from the table, causing his wife to shove her hands up under her glasses, hoping to shield her face from the embarrassment he was causing with both his potty humor and his light-hearted, though still crude inquiry about the facilities.

The moment he turned the corner in the hall, his expression changed totally. His hand clutched his chest. It wasn't really pain, but there was definitely some pressure there, and it was building. It had started while he was laughing and at first he thought it was because of all the rich food he had eaten at the table. He was just like his son in that diets went right out the window on holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Be that as it may, he still found he needed to get away from the table. He knew what was coming and he also knew it would be written all over his face. Denial just wasn't working for him any more, but he didn't want to worry his family unnecessarily. The pain would come, then it would pass and he would go back to feeling normal. He simply got a little to worked up while everybody was joking around.

He glanced back down the hall, listening to the light conversation and laughter that was still going on. Gene actually didn't need to use the bathroom, only to get out of sight while the pain came and went. Just a few minutes and he would be okay, and that couldn't come too soon, since Ron had announced he was serving his famous "Seven Layers of Heaven" desert, along with home-made pumpkin pie and hand whipped topping. That was something he most definitely wasn't going to miss.

The door to the 'spare' bedroom was open, since that was where everyone had piled their coats when they came in. Fortunately for him the recliner (which, was new and had not yet gained the 'experience' to be a ratty piece of furniture that women wanted to get rid of) was clear, though there was no room to open it up. He sat down heavily just as the real pain started. There wasn't any clear defining moment between the pressure and the pain, he just knew it was happening and wished it would stop.

He looked up suddenly when he heard the door close. Moments later the lights came on.

Ron was standing beside the door, looking directly at his stricken father.

"Dad, we've got to talk…"

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	24. Chapter 24

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 24**

* * *

Gene Stoppable did not like doctor's offices. He never did. Even in his mid-fifties he could recall in vivid detail being taken to old Doctor Lefkewitz when he was a small boy…or more accurately, he could recall all the painful injections he was forced to endure from the man. The man had an office in an old hospital that had been converted into private medical offices and everything was done in white tile and it constantly smelled of rubbing alcohol. It also seemed that cold, stainless steel tables adorned each room.

It really didn't help that his current doctor was a close, personal friend from Temple. The man was like two different people to him, one, a slightly dotty older man who constantly tried to get Gene out to the city golf course, he other a highly professional physician who only seemed to come out in the confines of his office. It also didn't help that his clinic was made to look more like a den, save the examination rooms. It was still a doctor's office and the alcohol smell would likely permeate the walls long after the aging healer had passed.

That visit had come and gone a couple days ago, and at least the results had put him at ease a little better. Doctor Fleishman had his nurse take his blood pressure and ran an EKG on him, both of which came out normal, or at least in the 'safer' range, considering he had always been under care for a heart murmur. It didn't take long for him to switch modes and try to entice him out to the links for eighteen holes, to which Gene always replied that he didn't even own a real set of clubs. That wasn't entirely true, as he had a set he picked up from a thrift store before Ron was even born, but he had never actually used anything but the three wood at a driving range before he discovered golf was not for him.

The doctor pretty much made up his mind that Gene's problems really were heartburn related, so he wrote him a prescription for one of those ubiquitous purple pills that were constantly advertised on the television. That suited the elder Stoppable just fine, as it would serve to get his son off his back.

The 'talk' they had that evening while James, Jim, Tim and Joss hunkered down to watch the game on the television while Jean and Anne tried to actually teach Kim how to properly clean up from such a feast, was not always pleasant. For most of his life, his son had always been respectful of his father, almost fearful at times. Yet, the moment something important to him was threatened, he 'manned up,' not taking anything from his old man.

It wasn't an easily won argument. Caught or not, Gene still wasn't willing to admit he needed help. Then his son laid it out for him. He looked like hell…his color was bad, his eyes had dark circles, even his sand-colored hair was looking washed out and thin. Then there were the other little things he was noticing, like the occasional wince of pain and the fact that he was starting to call him over to take care of the yard during the waning warm months more and more often.

The fact Ron had been able to see through his subterfuge at the dinner table spoke volumes.

"What about Mom?" He asked, his brown eyes pleading with him.

"I don't want her to worry. She's got enough on her plate as it is, with Catherine and her job."

Ron almost threw up his hands. "You think it's better for her to run around blissfully unaware, then you keel over from a heart attack? Dad, I always thought you were a smart man, so smart I wondered why I couldn't be, but take it from me, there's nothing to be gained from keeping things from somebody you love. As tight as KP and I are, that's one thing we still have to work on with each other, and it sometimes does real damage to our relationship, and that's just about things. We're talking about your life here."

"Son, I'm an old man."

Ron really did throw up his hands, his voice almost raising to a shout. "Fifty four is not old. God knows, Dad, I hope I'm still going strong by then."

"Look, I'll be seeing Dr. Fleishman in a couple months anyway for my annual so he can renew my blood pressure pills and all. If something's wrong, he'll catch it then."

In a display of strength that belied his small stature, Ron shoved the den armoire aside, then grabbed the edge of the small, feminine dresser that was against the wall so his father could see himself in the mirror. "Take a look at yourself, Dad. You don't look like yourself, you look like a ghost. I...I don't think you can wait two months, and even then, all Doc F is gonna do is talk to you about golf. He'll have his nurses do some really basic stuff, say you look fine and shoot you out the door since you won't sign up for a tee-time with him."

"Son…I…"

Gene was interrupted by the delighted squeal of CJ out in the den. From the sound of things, one of the twins (without seeing them, neither of them could tell which one) was trying to tickle the little girl. Ron simply locked eyes with his father.

"I already know one sweet little girl who doesn't have a father, but imagine how much worse it would be for CJ if she lost you now. She's three, Dad. That means she knows you and will always remember you. If you can't make yourself do this for me, or for Mom, how about my sister? How many years did you and Mom go through hell trying to have her? Do it for all of us, do it for yourself, but most of all, do it for her. Kim and I promised we would take care of her like she was our own if something ever happened, but I don't want to _have_ to do that unless it's the last option."

Gene picked up one of the rumpled magazines in the cardiologist's office, looking at the cover but not really seeing what it was all about. Something to do with bass fishing, or at least some kind of fishing, he never really looked close enough to find out. Ron's playing of the Catherine Jean card trumped just about everything else. For a very, very long time they had been going to fertility specialists just so they could realize their dream of having a second child of their own. That meant enduring all sorts of doctors over the years. True, his end of the deal was pretty straight-forward. All his tests came back showing him healthy, at least in that regard. It was Jean who got all the real poking and prodding, who had to have all sorts of treatments in order to conceive. He was the one who didn't like doctors in general, but watching her endure all of that was just as tough on him.

He tried to relax. This was just a precaution, just in case the tests his regular doctor performed missed something important. It would finally get Ron off his back and put the whole ordeal to rest, giving his innards time to recover, letting the slow-working medicines he had been prescribed relieve him of the pressure and pain he was having more and more often. He even thought about skipping it entirely, but his son had threatened to spill his guts to everyone…Kim, her mother, and worst of all Jean. So far he still had her convinced that all his problems were heartburn related and hadn't even told her he was scheduled to meet with the cardiologist.

Was that even wise? Ron was right about keeping secrets, but he still didn't want to worry her needlessly. If this was nothing more than his guts backing up on him he didn't want her to fret about it. Things were not going so well at her office and even though he made enough to comfortably support his family, she was very wrapped up in her work. Her office was going through some re-organizations since Ogehs Investments was pretty much ready to fold and wasn't going to renew the franchise. That meant they were going to have to go it alone, a prospect that was daunting, but not the end for them. He had complete faith in her to pull things out in the end, but he still didn't want to distract her.

If she so much as had a clue what this appointment was really about, she would have been right there with him, partly to support him, but mostly to make sure he went through with it.

He really wished he had taken Ron's offer to sit with him during the visit, but that would have meant him sitting out some of his classes. His son still made him swear he was going to go, even mentioning bringing Rabbi Katz in on everything, despite the draconian policies the medical world had to deal with involving privacy. Ron just countered that he wasn't a medical practitioner, so he wasn't bound by any of that, nor was anyone else he wanted to bring in except 'Mom P.'

The wait seemed interminable, but finally a heavyset African-American woman in scrubs appeared at the waiting room door and called his name. She took him in the back and went through the usual routine of weighing him and taking his blood pressure. He tried to read her expression as she went through the tests, but being a consummate professional, she gave no indications what anything said. Like most people suffering from mild hypertension, he had never bothered to learn how to read a manual blood pressure cuff, relying instead on a little digital unit that had not emerged from his drawer in several years.

Betty, the nurse at Dr. Fleishman's office, would have tut-tutted if his pressure had been elevated.

"Just have a seat, and Dr. Carlton will be with you in a moment." She said.

He tried calming his nerves, certain that his pressure was higher than it should be. He tried chalking that up to "White Coat Fever," but something inside him was telling him it was something else.

There was a knock at the door, but instead of the doctor, another nurse came in and made him take off his shirt. That alone was tough for him, since he didn't like doing so for anyone besides Jean, but the woman's air of professionalism put him a little at ease. What was worse, since it was the end of November, it was actually quite cold in there.

Things got even colder when she started cleaning his chest with some alcohol wipes. It was the first indication he was going to have a bit more serious test than his regular doctor had done.

"This is going to be a bit cold." She warned as she put some gel on the leads. She put four of them on him for the test, then hooked it all up to an EKG machine. Then she took out the cuff once more to check his pressure.

"Bit high?" he finally worked up the courage to ask.

"It was when Miss Natalie took it a little bit ago, but it's not so bad right now." She said pleasantly.

"Oh." Was his only response.

He couldn't tell anything from the test readouts, so he was left alone to ponder his predicament while he awaited the doctor himself. He glanced over at his shirt, laying there on the counter, wondering if he should put it back on or not. Then he recalled how doctors always had their stethoscopes draped around their necks and decided to leave it off until it was time to go.

Finally the doctor announced himself with another knock and came in, indicating Gene should sit on the examination table. He was a clean-shaven man in his mid-forties with dark hair and an occasional wicked smile who proceeded to do just what he had imagined, listening to his chest, making him breath in and out several times.

"Tell me about your father." The doctor said finally, sitting down on a stool facing the exam table.

"Well, he died about fifteen years ago."

"And?" the physician prompted.

"It…he had a massive heart attack. I don't know that much more about it. He didn't see doctor's that much, but he was healthy right up to that point."

"How about your mother?"

"She's okay. Can't really tell you all that much, she's a real private person. She just complains about her arthritis and gripes about her kids never coming to see her. You know, standard Jewish mother procedure."

"That sounds familiar, though my mother's not Jewish. Tell me about the symptoms you've been having."

"Well, sometimes I feel real tight in my chest, kind of like heartburn. Did the EKG show anything?"

"Not so much, but you could have significant blockage that won't show up on a test like that. We just use it for preliminary screening."

"Preliminary?"

"Mr. Stoppable…"

"Gene."

"Gene, in this line of work, it pays to be careful. It's too easy to put off these symptoms as being something else, but there's a reason heartburn is called that, though I think it sounds a little more catchy than acid-reflux disease."

The doctor took a lighted scope and looked at Gene's throat. "I'm not seeing any damage to the upper esophagus, though if this really is heartburn it could be lower, or relatively minor. I think our best course of action now would to be scheduling a stress-test for you."

"More tests?"

"I think so. Don't worry too much about it, what we do is hook you up to a more sophisticated EKG machine and put you on a treadmill. It's not so different than working out at the gym."

Gene smiled sheepishly. The only gym he had been in was the one at Middleton High School to watch Ron during his Mad Dog routines back when he was a student there. Treadmills were something he only saw on TV.

Dr. Carlton picked up on the look, nodding, pretty much as if he was expecting just that. "If there is a problem, we're going to see it there. If not, then I think you should just continue with the treatments my esteemed colleague has already prescribed."

"What do _you_ think, Doc?"

He paused for a moment, composing his thoughts. "I think, given your family history, and what your medical records show, that we need to go ahead with this test and see if there's something there, if for nothing more than ruling out any real problems." He stopped for a moment and looked the actuary in the eye. "If we find something, it could very well save your life. I'll be honest with you, I see this constantly. They say if a doctor in any particular specialty goes looking for something, they're probably going to find it. Unfortunately, I see you as a prime candidate for treatment. At this point in your life, years of sedentary behavior, poor diet choices, not looking too deeply into your condition, all that has a tendency to catch up with you, but like I said, I really want to look at this as a precaution."

"Worst case scenario, what am I looking at?"

"I won't lie to you. If you have some significant blockages we could be looking at catheterization, stints, perhaps even bypass surgery, but I don't want to go to deeply into a course of treatment until we know more about what we're looking at."

The rest of the appointment turned into a sort of blur for him. All of the confidence he had that it was nothing more than digestive problems seemed to evaporate as he checked out and made the stress-test appointment.

Finally getting into his aging Camry, he picked up his cell-phone. Jean would be in her office right about then, though he had no idea what she might have been doing by that point in the day. He put the phone back into its holder and sat there, gripping the steering wheel, not even quite ready to start the old Toyota.

Screwing up his courage, he picked the phone back up and pressed the number six. This was something he was going to have to discuss with Jean face-to-face, but he did need to talk to somebody at that moment. Ron would still be in class, so he would wait until after dinner to call him and tell him about the appointment.

"Gerry? Hi, Gene Stoppable…You got a moment? Sure, I'm ten minutes away from the temple, I'll be right over…thanks…bye."

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	25. Chapter 25

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 25**

* * *

Kim took her cell phone out of her pocket, looking at the tiny screen set on the outside of it. All it displayed was the time of day, along with a photo of Ron and her taken at one of those old-fashioned photo booths. There were no new messages.

Just as there had been about four and a half minutes earlier when she checked.

She frown, just as she had when she looked at it before. Maybe she should have still been carrying one of her Kimmunicators. They could function as cell-phones too, and the newest one looked just like a decorative bracelet, instead of a miniature of the hand-held version. Sure beat strapping something the size of a large PDA to your wrist.

Then again, those things were the tools of a trade she had turned her back on, albeit temporarily. If nothing else, they were both a symbol of her former life and a temptation. If she knew something was wrong somewhere and felt she could do something about it, then she would most likely drop everything and run off to help. Even watching the news was ferociously hard for her any more, but she had to keep telling herself that her choice would make things better for everyone in the long run.

Being just Kim Possible, College Senior was proving to be harder than she imagined.

Ron didn't want her to, but she still sat in on Team Possible after-action meetings. She still wanted to have a hand in the decision making process, at least as time allowed, especially since she had every intention of returning to 'active duty' after her honeymoon. It was just so frustrating to listen to Joss and her brothers discussing their adventures right in front of her, knowing full well that if she wanted to, she could be there right along with them.

Unfortunately, most of the time that would mean being there without Ron, and if the years together with him had taught her anything, it was that she was incomplete without him.

Logically, the decision had been the right one. Ron's grades had come back up once he was no longer disappearing with her for a day at a time on missions. Kim might have been able to do anything, but for him, it took everything he had to succeed, and by that point he had poured so much into his education she wasn't going to threaten it just to satisfy a desire for some action and adventure.

Sure, she could help people and being totally honest with herself, she liked that little mental pat on the back she could give herself when she succeeded. It wasn't really selfish to like that sort of gratification, since it was the knowledge that she did good, and not the accolades that brought it.

Anne glanced over at her, noting her interest in the tiny device. "It's set to ring if he calls, isn't it?"

Kim bit her lower lip, looking up at her mother. "Yes, but he knows we're supposed to be meeting with these people so he might just text me."

The older redhead just shook her shoulder length mane and put her hand over the phone, gently pushing it towards her purse. "I think if Ron was going to call, he'd just call. These things take time, and if the news isn't good, I would imagine he would want to tell you in person."

"I'm just so worried. I don't think he's ever had to deal with anything like this before." She met her mother's eyes for a moment, then dropped it down into her small clutch purse.

"Oh, then who was it that had to almost bodily drag you to the hospital when you got hurt on a mission? Like that time when you hit your head and he…"

"Mom, that was you, and that was dirty pool…and we're not talking about just a bump on the head, which, by the way, turned out to be just that, a bump. This is way worse than that."

"It could be. Let's try not to think about that until he calls. We're here to talk about happy things."

Kim put her elbow on the table and leaned on her fist. "It's hard to be happy when you know your future father-in-law failed his stress test. I knew Gene had some heart-related problems, but I had no idea it was so bad."

Anne was just as concerned as he daughter was. Of course, she hadn't seen the actual results of any of the tests themselves, but she had spent a great deal of time talking to Jean after he had gone in for the most recent procedures. Up to that point, she had simply assumed that it was indeed just digestive problems, which is why she never really did any more than gently nag him about seeing a physician. She was too close to him to see the gradual changes that others had seen, not to mention more than a little denial.

She could just imagine the fight they must have had when he told her the truth about his predicament. Nobody in either family liked it when secrets were kept from them, even if it was with the best intentions. Kim wasn't the only one who could fly off the handle when the truth came out.

Fortunately, they quickly got past all that. With his potential condition out in the open, they had gone together to his stress test, her office and the current crisis there put on hold. The test itself was relatively simple, at least to them. He went wearing a wind suit instead of his normal casual clothing and they hooked him up to an even more sophisticated EKG, this time with a screen he could actually see. If Anne had been there, she could have interpreted it a little better.

It didn't take long to do. They started the treadmill at a leisurely pace, but they quickly increased the angle and the speed. After just a few minutes, the pressure, though so much pain started. They asked him to rate the pain on a scale of one to ten. At first, he said it was about a two, but after only a few more minutes it shot up to a five or six.

They stopped the test at that point and made him sit down so he could cool off. Jean really didn't know much about the readouts, but she described them to Anne as being straight up and down. She tried to hide her reaction from her friend, but she knew that was a classic sign that he had something wrong and even more invasive tests would be in order.

The next step was a catheterization. That was where they were that day, including Ron. Kim wanted to be there as well, but the mothers decided she would be better off dealing with some other issues, as well as having somebody who could take care of CJ while it all went on.

Fortunately, the little girl was behaving herself. Both women knew that wouldn't last forever, but for the moment she was busy with the dolls she had brought along with her. Kim did have to smile when she heard the child play-acting with them. As different as she was from her much-older brother, she sure did sound like him when he was that age.

"How long is this going to take, Mom?" She glanced at the door of the small conference room they were sitting in. They had only been there about five minutes, but he mind was elsewhere. So many times in her life she thought about the process they were just starting that day. It was something all young women were supposed to dream about. The pictures on the walls should have been hammering that point home to her, but she found she really wasn't paying them all that much attention.

"I don't know, sweetheart. It all depends on what you end up picking out. Miss Wong is one of the most famous designers in the Tri-City area."

"I know. She's also one of the most expensive."

"Don't you worry about that, Kimmie. Your father and I aren't exactly paupers, you know. One of the perks of being doctor and all."

Kim grimaced slightly. "It just seems unfair that you two should have to pay for this. It's not like Ron couldn't afford it, or at least once he gets his trust fund."

"No, it's perfectly fair. Traditionally we're the ones who are supposed to pay for this."

"But that's just it, Mom. I want it to be traditional, but I don't want it to be some over-the-top circus. We've been over this before."

"That was just pictures in my magazines." Anne chided. "This is the real thing. That was all just preparation, now we're headed into the operation room with a live patient. Oh, sorry." She cringed herself, knowing she just reminded her of Ron's father once more.

"I just can't believe they have to put him through all that. Seems they would have some kind of scanner they could use and tell everything."

Anne nodded slightly. "That would be nice, but medicine doesn't always work like that. It's actually a pretty common procedure. The hard part will come later if things don't look good."

Kim gave her mother a meaningful look. Ron, of course, didn't know enough to relate what he had learned, so she did some research on her own. They were going to take Gene Stoppable into a room, shave his hip, and inject dye into the arteries of his heart to actually see where the blocks were. To her, it all seemed so primitive, but at least by the end of the day they should know whether he was going to need surgery.

All that reading really didn't help her at that moment. I just seemed to her that if they had gotten to that point they actually were going to find something, and even if they didn't, that meant many more tests to actually figure out what was wrong with him. Something bad was going on with him, she knew it, and it was tearing her up inside.

It wasn't just her worry about Gene alone. Ron was his father's son, and he had lost his grandfather at an early age to a surprise heart attack. That meant he was a prime candidate for the same sort of problem as well, and for years he had been consuming garbage and, outside of their missions, pretty much leading a pretty sedate life. He could joke about needing to be plump to be a chef, but not if it meant losing him at an early age. She wanted to be with him for the long haul, and that meant the next fifty or sixty years, or more.

The thought that it could be Ron on that table in about thirty years was ripping her insides apart.

Ever since they had been together as a couple, Kim had tried steering him toward better choices. She even got him to start eating prepared lunches instead of the dubious food-like matter served at the school cafeteria. It did help that he actually knew how to make good food that way, but at the end of the day they still found themselves at Bueno Nacho, and she knew even the 'healthy' salads she preferred there were almost as bad as the greasy, cheese covered stuff he liked. Barkin really had been right when he told him it would shave years off his life.

There was also the issue of getting Ron in to actually get a full physical. That was something that had not happened now since his early teens. He could nag, even physically drag her to see a doctor, but he blanched at even the mention that she was going in for her annuals, not to mention his reaction when it was time to see her gynecologist. In fact, most of his medical care had come from her mother. That was going to have to change. This was something a few stitches or a cast wasn't going to fix and if they could catch the beginnings of a problem at twenty-one, then there was a chance he would never have to go through that himself, or put her through it.

Anne picked a large catalog up off the table, thumbing through it. "Oh, this one is nice. What do you think?" She slid the heavy tome over toward her daughter.

"Mom! There's enough material in that dress to cover everyone in the church. I told you I wanted something simple. It's not like it's going to be a royal wedding."

"Oh, come on, Kimmie. Ron certainly has the ears to be royalty." She grinned, hoping that would break the younger woman out of her funk.

Kim did smile slightly. "Ron is like, one hundred times better looking than any of those royals, but I'm still not wearing a dress with a train that looks like it needs a caboose."

"Well, it's not like you're going to get married in something like this." She turned the pages back a few, pointing out another, much shorter dress.

"That's actually not bad." She commented, studying the picture.

"As you would say, so not. Kimmie, that looks like that black dress of yours Ronald likes so much, just in white with a veil."

"Uh huh. Like I said, I like it." She countered.

"I…think that's a little too much leg to be showing." She replied, pulling the catalog away.

"So, I've got nice legs."

Anne rolled her eyes, turning the book back to the more modest dresses. "Honey, you do have to consider the press is likely to be there. That looks like something some starlet would wear, not a decent girl like you. As far as I'm concerned, if you wear a dress like that, you might as well not wear white at all."

"Oh, we're not starting that again? That's so old-fashioned."

"Well, it's not like anybody is going to believe you're actually a virgin, not with all those stories in the grocery store magazines about you and Ron."

Kim made a rude noise. "As if. Most of the time they don't even get his name right, if they even have me paired up with him at all. If I see one more of those things that has me paired up with that Jake whatshisname I'm gonna hurl. People can believe what they want to, I'm wearing a white dress. As far as I'm concerned, that just means it's a first wedding."

"I agree with you completely. I think it would be silly for you to wear anything but white regardless, but as long as your father and I are paying for this wedding, you're not going there wearing something that would be considered tacky in Las Vegas."

"Yeah." She took the catalog back and flipped through a couple pages. "How about this? Recognize who that is?"

Anne glanced over at the indicated picture. The girl in the dress did resemble Kim in passing, though it had more to do with her flame-red hair than anything else, save the face her blonde highlights were much more pronounced.

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "I thought Heather was already married."

Kim made a slight face. "She is, then she wasn't, then she was again, then she wasn't again. You know how 'show folk' are. Just like us…"

"…but with no recognizable moral code." She finished. "Still, it is a nice dress, though I don't think you could quite pull it off with your build."

She growled slightly, crossing her arms over her modest chest. "I could if the dress were made for me."

Anne just shook her head. "The moment you kneel at the ceremony, Pastor Grayson and Rabbi Katz are going to get a show. Kim, you have to face facts, you're built like me and some things just aren't going to work. Besides, isn't that just a little…plain?"

"It's simple, Mom. Can you get it through your head that's what I want? I just want a pretty dress with maybe a little train. Like your dress, though the poofy shoulders are a bit much."

"You really liked my dress?"

"S'ha. I've worn it a couple times."

Anne laughed out loud. "A six year-old playing dress-up with Ron doesn't count."

Kim couldn't help but laugh as well. "I was so afraid Daddy was going to blister my behind when you caught us. Ron sure looked funny in Daddy's tux jacket."

"I think he looked distinguished. I just wish we had some film in the camera."

"Ew. That is not something I'd want trotted out…wait, you're not thinking of doing one of those video montage things, are you?"

"Why, Kimmie, of course we are, and what's so wrong about having a picture of you and Ron when you were little. It'd be so cute since you're actually getting married. Why, even your brothers found some things we could include."

"Oh no, please no, not that! I thought I erased all the copies of that!"

"As if you think they didn't make more? Really, it made the rounds of the internet, so I'm sure it's on hard drives all over the country."

Kim hid her face. "Why anyone would want to see me…naked."

Her mother chuckled slightly. "I'm sure Ron does."

"Mom, I was two. It's bad enough I've got people drawing pictures of me all over the internet, but a video of me taking a bath? What were you and Dad thinking?"

"I'm kidding, honey. I know that clip bothers you. Now, we do have those pictures of you up at the ski lodge…"

"Mom!"

"Sorry, Kim."

"What's taking that woman so long?" She griped, looking at the door again.

"We've only been here ten minutes. I'm sure she's giving us some time to look over these catalogs."

Kim put her face in her hands. "I shouldn't even be here. I should be with Ron."

Anne put her hand on Kim's shoulder. "Kim, he's going to be okay. I know you're part of him and he's part of you, but this is his family. This is something he has to face in his own way, and right now he wants to deal with it alone. It's just a test. When the real thing comes, whether it's something simple or not, you'll be right there with him, but no matter what happens, life is going to go on."

"But if things are really bad, I don't even know if we can go forward with this wedding." She pleaded.

The elder Possible took a long breath. "Kim, even if things are the worst, it's early enough that Gene should be fine when the wedding rolls around. I know Dr. Carlton personally, he's one of the best cardiologists in the country. He's in good hands. If you end up having to put off the wedding, then so be it, but until we know you have to, we still have to plan things."

"How much planning does it take for me to put on a pretty dress and say some vows with the man I love?"

"Kimmie, just listen to yourself. You're the same young woman who planned school dances right down to where you were going to put the speakers for the best sound. This isn't as simple as you make it out to be, and we have to be ready, just in case things don't actually work out as planned."

Kim reached into her purse. "I'm going to call him. They have to know something by now."

Anne reached out to put a restraining hand on her, but the phone started buzzing in silent mode. Kim didn't even remember switching it over, but it was still loud enough both of them could hear it going off.

She stared at the purse for a moment, suddenly afraid of picking it up. Then, as if somebody else was doing it for her, she took the phone out and flipped it open.

"Ronnie…yes, baby, I'm here…uh huh…oh…oh no…how…that soon?...no, we're done here. Don't, I'll be right over to the house by the time you get there…what? Then I'll come over to the office…I love you."

She closed the phone, meeting her mother's eyes. "That was Ron. They're making Gene lie still for four hours."

"That's normal for that procedure. What did he say?"

Kim took a deep breath, stuffing the phone back inside. "They found four arteries with significant blockage. It's too bad for them to try stints.

"They're going to do a quadruple bypass on him…as soon as possible."

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	26. Chapter 26

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 26**

* * *

"Hey, you look like you could use this."

Kim looked up, realizing suddenly that she had dozed off. The Medical Center's waiting area in the cardiac unit was not the most comfortable place in the world, but the quiet, coupled with the long hours she had already endured there had finally taken their toll. Once she had been used to waking at odd hours, but being up since about four that morning, coupled with having very little sleep anyway, was taking its toll.

She glanced up at the speaker. It was a young woman who she had barely noticed sitting there in the waiting room. Reaching up, she took the proffered cup of steaming coffee.

"Sorry, there's nothing in it." The woman said pleasantly. Her voice was familiar and relaxing, but that seemed mostly because of her local accent.

"Thanks, that's how I take it anyway." She took a sip of the brew. It was probably the fifth cup she had of it since getting there and just like the rest, it was genuinely terrible, but she had started drinking coffee in her mid-teens simply to get the caffeine, and having generally little skill at making it, she was used to poor-quality java. Ron, on the other hand, seemed to put more sugar and half-n-half in his cup than the coffee itself, when he actually drank the stuff. He tended to get his mild stimulants from soda.

The lady sat down, diagonally across from Kim. For a moment she wondered where Jean and Ron had gotten to, but she noticed Rabbi Katz was missing as well. They were probably off somewhere talking to their spiritual leader, and not every conversation between Ron and him had to include her, though most did anyway. If something bad had happened, they certainly would have come and awakened her.

The woman was slightly built, a couple inches shorter than Kim with an even more slender build, though she looked healthy, not skinny. She had the impression that she was a few years older, despite her petite frame. She had on a heather gray sweatshirt with a very faded logo that looked something like the Middleton High School Mad Dog, though she had never seen the design before. Her jeans were equally faded and she had a three-foot long ponytail pulled though the band of her cap. She noted with interest that she was dumping sugar packet after sugar packet into her own cup, though whether it was for the sugar intake or just to cover the nasty taste of the brew, Kim didn't know.

Kim realized, though, that the most striking thing about the girl was her sparkling blue eyes.

"Family member?" The girl asked, finally taking a sip of what must have been a syrupy mixture by that point.

It took a couple moments for it to register in her mind as a question. "My father-in-law…well, he's going to be my father-in-law, in a few months. You?"

The young brunette looked down at her lap, swirling her coffee with a plastic stirrer. "My husband's grandfather is having surgery."

Kim looked up the hallway where Gene had been taken earlier that morning. "Oh." She glanced back at the woman, who was looking at her intently, realizing she must be waiting for more. "My fiancé's Dad is having a quadruple bypass. He's been sick for a while, but they only just found out for sure a week ago. Your husband's grandfather, who's doing his surgery? I know a lot of the doctors here."

For half a moment, it looked like the other woman was slightly uncomfortable. "I'm not sure. I'm...not really from around here, but I was in town and just found out about it. They say he's going to be okay, but I thought I should still be here." She cocked her head slightly, looking at Kim intently. "You're Kim Stoppable, aren't you?"

She almost opened her mouth to say yes, but realized exactly what the woman had said. She blushed ever so slightly. "Not…quite yet. I'm still just plain Kim Possible. Ron and I aren't getting married until next summer…well, that is if Gene is well enough by then."

The young woman blushed, her hands going to her mouth almost in shock. "Sorry. Guess I've been reading too many cheap celebrity magazines and forgot which name was which. Guess I've got a lot on my mind."

"It's no big. Actually, I'm happy somebody really knows his name. If I had a nickel for every time somebody screwed it up…"

"I know what you mean."

"You do? I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Amy. Amy…Corazón." She said.

"Oh, that's pretty. It means 'heart' doesn't it? I didn't peg you as Hispanic."

Amy stirred her coffee slowly. "Actually, I'm not. Can't quite figure the name, since my father is half-Greek and Mother is technically Jewish."

"Technically?"

"Eh, she was adopted, so she really doesn't know that much about her real heritage. She was raised Jewish, so I guess that's what counts."

"Oh." Kim noted with interest that the woman apparently hadn't taken her husband's name, considering she was speaking of her parents. That just brought the old discussion about whether she would remain a Possible, at least in her public persona, after the wedding or if she would go out of her way to tell everyone her name was now 'Stoppable.' She had her own thoughts and feelings about the matter, but, like the plans for the wedding itself, that seemed like something off in the distant future. "Where's your husband?" She inclined her head slightly, spying the simple gold band on the woman's ring finger.

"He…couldn't be here. I was around on business, and like I said, I just found out that Grandpapa was having the operation."

Kim nodded. "I'm sure he's going to be fine. We've got some of the best surgeons here at the Medical Center. My Mom's one of them."

Amy perked up. "Do you think she might be the one doing it?"

"Maybe. Depends on what kind of operation it is. She's a neurosurgeon by specialty. She'd probably be here right now, but she's got three procedures to do herself today."

Amy slumped back in her seat slightly. "Grandpapa's having his ticker worked on as well, so I guess your mother won't be doing it. I've actually heard a lot about your mother, though somehow I got the impression she was more of a general practice type."

"She does get a lot of practice with minor injuries and stuff. You wouldn't believe the number of times she's actually had to stitch me and Ron up, all the while joking that if I'd let her bring me here then the nurses would actually be doing the job, but when it comes to surgery, she pretty much has to stick to her specialty."

Amy tipped her head back, polishing off the rest of her coffee. "I'm going to get some more, you want any?"

Kim looked at her cup, which was still three-quarters full. "No thanks, I've had plenty. Besides, it's not the best stuff in the world."

The woman stretched slightly as she stood up. "Tell me about it. It's almost as bad as what my god-mother used to make." She shot Kim a huge smile as she headed back around the corner where the pot was set up.

* * *

"You know, I'm actually amazed that a place supposedly dedicated to health would actually serve something like that in their cafeteria." Rabbi Katz eyed Ron's plate as he set it down at one of the small tables near the serving line. "You know, Ronald, I personally feel the decision to follow a kosher diet should be up to the individual, but it originally came to being as a way to eat and live healthier."

"I know that, Rabbi. I took a course that went into all that stuff about cultural foods and all." He picked up the top of the hamburger bun, surveying the less than delectable innards. "I just can't imagine having a burger without cheese on it. Or a Naco."

"Have you considered the fact that eating like this may be part of the problem your father is going through right now? Oh well, at least you're eating something."

Ron sighed. His mother had gone off with Kim's to talk while the elder Possible had a break between procedures and Kim herself had dozed off in the waiting area. He slipped away, first thinking of finding a men's room, then wondering if they would let him into the observation theater above the operating room. He'd pretty much enjoyed being let in whenever it was Dr. Possible doing the surgery, but with his father, they might be a bit loath to let him.

He never got the chance to find out, and that really wasn't so bad for him. In hindsight, he realized he really didn't want to see his father's chest split open, his body hooked up to a heart-lung machine, keeping him alive while they worked on his heart. It was going to be bad enough seeing the incision, then the scar later on.

If he even survived the procedure.

They were all told in great detail just how long the operation was going to take, but there, in the hospital, four hours into it, it just seemed like it was going on forever. He had been there at the office when he had the final test and sat with his father as the cardiologist explained everything that was going to happen. They left that day, knowing that something could and would be done to save the ailing man's life.

The reality of it was something else entirely.

None of them had been through anything like this before. Yes, he had seen the inside of this building a little too much for his comfort, but the worst of that really was nothing more than a broken bone or too, or some stitches, more due to his own clumsiness than anything that ever happened on an actual mission. This was actual surgery…long, drawn out, difficult surgery, the kind where sometimes they got in there and found things to be much worse than the tests indicated.

Ron was scared, and with good reason. Yes, Kim was trying to hammer home the fact that much of what was happening could apply to him, but it was his father he was frightened for. The 'old man' was always there for him, ready to offer advice when needed. He was a constant in his life, just like Kim and the thought that he could be taken away like this was rocking him to his core.

Outside of the operating room, a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"When was the last time you had something to eat, Ronald?"

He realized as he stared at the poor-quality, burger-like object sitting on his plate, that Rabbi Katz had pretty much surmised where his mind was and was steering him away from it for a moment.

Letting the bun fall back onto the dubious meat patty, he sat back in his chair, looking off to the left, staring at nothing in particular. "How did we get here?"

"Well, we took the elevator down to the first floor and followed the signs to the cafeteria." Katz offered helpfully.

"That's not what I meant, Rabbi."

He sighed, stroking his long beard thoughtfully. "I know, Ronald. To answer your question, it's really as simple as Gene not taking care of himself and being naturally predisposed to this sort of problem. I hate to boil it down to that point, but it's the truth."

"But it doesn't make sense to me. How can God let something like this happen. Dad's always been a good man. He's tried to be a good father and he's always been a good husband to Mom."

"Ronald, you might as well ask why God lets things like war, or disease, or natural disasters happen, and it would be so easy just to say that everything happens for a reason."

"Doesn't it? I thought that's what people in your position always say." Ron looked across the table, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Actually, it does, but I think it tends to be more about the big picture. Ronald, we have to face the fact that we're human beings and we're put here with free-will. Then too, just because God may have a plan for all of us, nothing ever said it was supposed to be easy. Life is hard sometimes. Yes, harder for some than others, but it's still hard."

"Yeah. Guess you're right."

"There's something else bugging you too, isn't there?"

"It's…nothing." Ron picked up his glass of tea, swirling the ice a bit before setting it back down without taking so much as a sip.

"If somethings bad enough that it's bothering you, it's not 'nothing'." The Rabbi said gently.

Ron met the older man's eyes for a moment. "It's just something I'm feeling that I think is wrong. Since I know it's wrong I know I shouldn't be feeling it, but I still do."

Katz nodded. "Let me take a stab at this. You feel like all this happening with your Dad is going to have an impact on your life and you feel a little resentful about it."

Ron's eyes locked with Katz's once more, his mouth hanging open for a second. "I…I told you it was wrong."

"…and you feel guilty for thinking that way." Katz finished.

"Yeah. It's wrongsick, I know, but it's like…I've gone through so much and come so far with Kim, then like out of the clear blue, all this happens and I'm scared that it's all going to be taken away. Then I think how selfish that sounds and it makes me sick to my stomach."

"Ronald, like I said before, we're human beings, we've got free will and we have minds of our own. It's natural to think that way. It also speaks well of your character that you recognize it as being selfish. We all have thoughts and feelings. It's how we deal with and act on those feelings that makes us good or bad. Honestly, I don't think you would ever really hold it against your Dad if this effected your life with Kim, any more than I think this will do anything to your relationship with her."

"She's not here with me right now." Ron countered.

"We've talked about this before, Ronald. You're not actually joined at the hip, though sometimes it seems like the two of you are one person with two heads and four arms. It isn't necessary, or even proper for the two of you to spend every waking moment together. You have to be your own person and she has to be her own as well. Besides, I saw her in the waiting room before I came and found you. She was enjoying a nice nap."

A faint smile flickered across Ron's face. "She's not going to be happy when she wakes up."

"Why, because you won't be there?"

He shook his head. "No, she's going to have a crick in her neck from sleeping on those uncomfortable chairs."

Katz nodded. "No kidding. Well, maybe once your father's out of surgery, the two of you can go home and get some proper rest. Then you can work on her neck for her."

Ron picked up the burger, taking a tentative bite. That only served to hammer home the fact that he actually was quite hungry, having not eaten anything since dinner the night before, and even that he had picked at, considering how preoccupied he was at the impending surgery. The sandwich wasn't too bad. It wasn't good either, but it certainly was edible.

Rabbi Katz smiled, seeing him digging into the food, even if it wasn't quite what he thought the young man should be eating, though secretly he wished he could have some bacon and cheese on his burgers as well.

* * *

'Amy' peeked out the door of the supply room she had slipped into, looking down the hall toward the waiting area. How could she have been so stupid? Kim _Stoppable_? It slipped out of her mouth so naturally she almost didn't realize she had actually said it. That was the kind of dumb mistake that could get you caught! It was certainly a good thing that Kim _Possible_ had her mind on other things than a random person speaking to her in a hospital waiting room.

She pulled off the cap, letting her long hair spill out, a long lock falling across her face and nose. The rest spilled down her back, well past her waist. She shook her head a couple times, trying to get the long mane to settle down.

Then she pulled the sweatshirt up over her head, setting it aside as she worked out the kinks in her slender shoulders. Those waiting room chairs certainly were uncomfortable, though whether that was by design or because they were simply too cheap to get good furniture, she had no clue.

Under the sweatshirt was a skin-tight suit of black and dark purple panels. The short sleeves suddenly stretched, morphing over her hands in partial gloves. Once it settled down, she shucked out of the jeans, revealing leggings and boots of similar construction.

'Amy' opened her purse and started stuffing the clothing inside. Oddly enough, the bulky fabric seemed to all go into the small space without so much as making the sides bulge out. She flicked it a couple times and it turned black, getting slightly smaller before she attached it to her thin, silver belt.

She frowned slightly, looking at the door once more. Everything she had said out there was actually the truth, though some things had been withheld. If Kim only knew the whole truth… No, it wasn't time for that, not yet, perhaps not for some time to come, if ever. There was so much she knew, so much she would like to tell the red-haired woman.

Well, just like Kim Possible always said, there was a proper time and place, and this was neither. There were still some things to be accomplished before she could actually go home to her husband. She had only been married a couple months when this all came up and despite feeling it was her personal responsibility to see this through, all she could really think about was getting back to him and getting on with the process of starting their own family.

That will all come in time, she told herself as she pulled the hood up over her head, stuffing her voluminous hair inside. With a wave of her hand, a disk of shimmering light appeared. It quickly turned into a floating pool that looked somewhat like mercury, but was still made of light.

She stepped into it and was gone. The pool turned back to just light, then winked out, leaving the supply room as dark as it had been when she first entered.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	27. Chapter 27

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 27**

* * *

Middleton may have been prone to bright, sunny weather, but it was still located in the Colorado foothills and sometimes it was prone to bouts of significant winter weather. Generally, the locals were ready for that sort of thing and, considering Christmas was less than a week away, they actually welcomed it.

Still, it all started out the worst way possible. The weathermen had been forecasting a light snowfall, but an unexpected inversion of the atmosphere turned that into a light coating of freezing rain, pretty much paralyzing the modest-sized city for about twenty-four hours. It could have been worse, all thing considered, but the sun came out for a few hours the next day, allowing at least the streets to dry before the main part of the storm descended on the area.

By the last day of Chanukah, Middleton was once more blanketed with snow. Only this time it wasn't the thin, almost pristine coating they had received for Thanksgiving, but a good, old-fashioned call out the snow plows, thank goodness the schools are already closed anyway and hope you've got plenty of ibuprofen for your back once you're done shoveling foot-deep, don't expect it to melt until after the holidays snowstorm.

The sky remained gray and occasionally it would flurry once more, but the townspeople remained cheerful. After all, it was Christmas and it was only fitting the place looked like it. Snow people could, and did deal with, though there were plenty of people still around who remembered the toxic snowmen some six years prior.

The center city had been experiencing a sort of renaissance over the last several years. Back in the eighties, when the mall opened, a lot of the businesses fled, no longer able to compete with an indoor collection of stores, not to mention what several Smarty Marts, and their fierce competitor, Bullseye had done. Somehow, after sitting idle for some years, the storefronts had started coming back. First it was simple things meant to service the office-dwellers who still plied the streets during the day, but slowly more intrepid independent entrepreneurs found a niche, especially since many of the leases were available for a fraction of what a mall space would cost.

Normally, Rufus would almost never venture out of Ron's pocket in weather like that. He was, after all, a nearly cold-blooded communal rodent native to a much warmer climate in Africa and was quite susceptible to the frigid temperatures. Instead, he was bounding down the sidewalk, avoiding the larger piles of snow, enjoying the miniature thermal suit Wade had constructed for him out of the same fabric the super-suits were made of. He had just one thing on his mind:

Egg nog.

Kim and Ron weren't far behind. They were both back in their old snow-suits, though Kim was wearing her newer black pants instead of the older purple ones. Even having grown six inches since his parents first bought it for him, Ron was still pretty much able to wear his, though he had to stuff the legs down into his snow-boots. With little intention of heading into the mountains to avail themselves of the prime skiing conditions, they were both wearing knit caps instead of their helmets as well as matching scarves.

The only reason they weren't holding hands as they slowly made their way from shop to shop was the toddler walking between them. Occasionally when they reached a slightly higher pile of snow they would pick her up by her hands and lift her up to arm level, letting the little girl pretend she was flying.

Despite being bundled thicker than the famous tire company mascot, little Catherine Jean Stoppable was having the time of her life.

Even though they were months away from actually getting married and hadn't even discussed when they would start having children of their own, they were really enjoying suddenly having a child in their life nearly full-time. At least for Kim, it hearkened back to the days when she spent the majority of her time babysitting, though at the end of the day she was putting the little girl to bed in the spare bedroom of their apartment rather than taking her home to her parents.

It seemed that the worst of everything seemed to be behind them, at least for the moment. Despite taking nearly eight hours, Gene's operation had been fairly textbook. It did help that he was in generally good shape save for his heart itself, and they got to it before he could have an outright heart attack, so his recovery was going as well as it could be expected. He was still extremely weak and would be well into the new year, but all-in-all, he was pretty much out of the woods.

The first couple days after Gene came home, they both spent at his house. It took some doing (and more than a few words none of them had any idea Kim knew) to get the full bed back up into Ron's room from storage, but they managed. It was that, or somehow try to sleep on the tiny twin bed he had grown up in, which seemed even more daunting than wrestling the floppy mattress back up the stairs from the garage. Gene and Jean had a better time of it when they first put it in Ron's room, since it only had to come across the hall from the then-guest bedroom, which had in turn become CJ's room.

After three nights there, it became clear that, to honor their vow to take care of Ron's sister if anything happened to them, they would have to move her to their home. A few short months on their own had completely obliterated their tolerance for spending more than a couple days with either sets of parents, no matter how much they loved them.

Ron suddenly found himself feeling like a guest in a room he had lived in for over sixteen years.

Rabbi Katz had a little advice to offer in that regard as well. Guests were like fish. Great at first, but after a couple days, things started to smell. Kim certainly wrinkled her nose at that comment, knowing they didn't really physically have any kind of offensive odor (save for the fact that Jean, who preferred citrus-scented toiletries sometimes complained about Kim's lavender preference.)

They had even gotten past the first real, honest to goodness clash over their disparate religions. Actually, it wasn't so much Ron, but CJ who objected when Kim appeared at the door of their home about halfway through Chanukah with a four-foot tall artificial Christmas Tree. It seemed, even at the tender age of three, that she had made up her mind she was Jewish, and would do things the Jewish way and that meant having a menorah in the house in December and eating little foil wrapped chocolate coins.

Ron, of course, being a true believer in the more secular aspects of Christmas, only objected to the fact the tree was not only tiny, but plastic. Kim simply rolled her eyes as she set it up on a side-table in their den – the only place they could put it without getting completely in the way.

"Next year we'll have a nice, real tree, so big it's scraping the ceiling and so wide we'll have to take out half the furniture. That'll be our first official Christmas-slash-Chanukah together and we'll do it right."

Kim ended up having to pull rank on both of them when explaining there was literally no room in the tiny flat for a larger tree, there was not enough time to be home to take care of a live one and that their home was both Christian and Jewish did not appease the two irate Stoppables. She simply figured both of them would change their tunes when they got to her parent's house on Christmas Day, where the tree would have its own zip code and all the other Possible holiday festivities would commence.

Surprisingly, despite her gradually declining health, Nana was flying in for the holiday. Ostensibly, it was for her to do a 'proper' inspection of her oldest granddaughter's new (if temporary) home, though she said the biggest reason was a surprise she had for Ron.

Kim didn't quite know how they were going to pull of the subterfuge of her having her own room since CJ was living in it.

They were immensely glad when the first semester finally ground to a halt. With the holidays starting early that year (with Chanukah starting on the eleventh), exams fell smack dab in the middle. Ron briefly reverted into "Stressed Ron" in the week leading up to them, leaving him poor company for both his fiancé and their charge. The term ended with both of them doing respectably well, their temporary retirement from missions giving them, especially Ron, the boost they needed to get over the hump.

Gene was doing as well as could be expected, considering what he had gone through. There was still quite a bit of pain, but he managed. Suddenly a man who used to take two capsules every morning had a full cabinet of various medications, not to mention therapy sessions he had to go to. In short order, he had dubbed the physical therapist the 'physical terrorist,' an appellation he didn't care if the woman overheard. She simply laughed it off, having heard it hundreds of times already.

He actually was having the worst pain from his leg and his arm, where they had harvested the grafts they used on his heart. He was also complaining of holes in his memory, which they call learned was a common side effect of the deep anesthesia required for the operation. Kim almost had a moment when she saw the raw incisions, especially the one on his chest, but she recovered nicely. It was clear by her reaction that she would never actually be one to follow in her mother's footsteps. Just thinking about poking around in a human brain made her almost physically ill, and the direct evidence that a man's chest cavity had been opened up in an almost violent fashion was almost as bad.

Coming downtown had actually been Ron's idea. Having been dragged to the mall on countless occasions by Kim, he was ready to do his shopping someplace new and different. That meant braving the weather and trudging around bundled up downtown.

Or, at least that's what Ron called it.

The debate had been raging for longer than the two of them had been alive. The two sides were almost as polarized as the warring political parties that held sway over the nation. On one side, there were the traditionalists like Ron who called the main business district of Middleton 'downtown.' Their argument was that it had always been called that, and even the state-supplied signs out on the highway proclaimed it was such.

Kim, on the other hand, called it Uptown. During a few earlier, ill-fated attempts to revive the central business district, somebody had the bright notion that 'Up" was a much more positive sounding term. From that moment on, the city boosters had referred to it purely as Uptown, to the point they even convinced a number of the local television and radio stations that's what it should be called.

Ron, and those on his side of the fence, argued that Upperton had a proper uptown. Kim countered that, if that were true, then only Lowerton would have a downtown. She then added that it was situated on a slight rise, meaning you would have to go 'up' to approach it from any direction.

The few people that suggested Middleton should have a "Center City" were roundly shouted down by both sides.

The State of Colorado threw their hat in the ring, or, more accurately kept it completely out, by putting up new signs out on the interstate that read "Business District." That didn't stop the boosters from putting up lots of signs of their own calling it Uptown.

To Ron, the term just stuck in his craw.

Rufus was doing his best 'Peruvian hairless' impression, wagging his tail like the aforementioned pup of dubious reality as they approached a stand that, in warmer months, specialized in kosher hot dogs. The proprietor, who was actually of middle-eastern extraction, always switched over to more lucrative holiday fare, though it looked like he was about to turn into a Lebanese popsicle as he doled out his creamy concoction to thirsty customers. It took him a few moments to realize that the tiny creature in the black body-suit, waving a five-dollar bill, was actually the next one in line.

"Here you go, little rodent." He said genially. "I even put an extra sprinkle of nutmeg on it, just for you."

If Rufus had heard him, he didn't give any indication. It was likely he hadn't, as his entire head was quickly engulfed in the cup, drinking the thick liquid down as fast as his lips could go. In moments, everything was gone except for the foam, which he was rapidly lapping up with his surprisingly large tongue.

All was said and done by the time the trio had caught up to him. They smiled and waved at the vendor as they walked past, collecting Ron's little companion as they walked.

"You have got to be kidding me." Ron said as they rounded a corner.

"I'm seeing, but I'm not believing." Kim gasped, spying what had garnered her beloved's attention.

Another couple was coming down the sidewalk, also leading a small child by the hands. It was as if both 'families' had been duplicated, to the point they would occasionally lift the squealing toddler into the air, just as they had been doing with CJ.

The only difference was that the couple themselves had once been Kim's and Ron's mortal enemies.

They couldn't help but smile at the sight of little Amethyst. She was still a couple months from turning three and she was still slightly small for her age, but she was somehow one of the brightest small children Kim had ever seen. It was also becoming clear that, despite her bright blue eyes, she must have been a vision of what her mother had looked like at that age.

"If I didn't know better, Princess, I'd say you two have been getting busier than I thought." Sherry grinned at the little girl, though all you could see of her were chocolate brown eyes the same color as her brother's.

"How you doin', Drew?" Ron asked. "That's a really interesting color."

"Oh, be quiet, buffoon. It took Shego long enough to put this makeup on me, though cold as it is, I don't think anyone would wonder why I was blue." He made a point of rubbing his chest with his free arm and shivering, even though he was wearing a rather thick, fur-lined parka.

"Hush, Dr. D." Sherry snapped. "Last thing we need is for one of Hobble's goons to realize who we are, then it won't matter what kind of deal we've got with GJ."

"I know, I know. It's just too cold to be out right now and I'd rather be home testing my new invention."

Kim's eyebrow shot up. "I thought you weren't supposed to be 'inventing' anything."

"It's just a model of my Doomsday Decimator. All it really does is heat up my Cocoa Moo."

"Uh, dude." Ron cut in, grinning. "There's a little thing in the kitchen called a microwave. I've been in your house, I know there's one in there."

"Oh, give it a rest, Stoppable. Let Drakken have his toys. If he tries anything that's gonna get us in trouble, I'm gonna kick his fuzzy blue butt six ways from Sunday, and that's without firing up my power." To emphasize her point, she held up a black-gloved hand, wiggling the fingers, though, of her distinctive green glow, there was no sign. That was another part of their deal. She stayed powered down. Between Wade's tracking sensors and the chip embedded in her neck (which she was unaware of) the authorities would know the moment she fired up. Not that she really minded. She had several years earlier learned how to shut it off more completely, leaving her appearance much more normal, though her skin still was almost deathly pale. If it wasn't for her dark brown eyes, she could have been mistaken for an albino.

She put her hands on her hips, letting go of her daughter's hands. The two kids immediately gravitated together while the adults talked, playing little patty-cake games in their thick mittens. "So, are we gonna make with the small talk normal people do? You done with your Christmas shopping, yadda-yadda?"

"I think I'd go more for how's Ammie doing?"

Sherry gestured at the small child with her upturned hand. "She's okay, as you can see for yourself, Pumpkin."

"It's unnatural." Drakken grumped. "The child is never sick. Not a sniffle, not an earache, nothing."

"Maybe that's because I take good care of her, Drakken. Ever thought of that?"

Kim shook her head slightly. Standing in front of the were two people who had come dangerously close to actually taking over the world on several occasions, and they were standing there arguing why Sherry's daughter never got a cold. The scene was so unusual, the next words that came from her mouth seemed to jump there of their own volition.

"Would the three of you like to come over for dinner tomorrow night?"

The other three adults standing there on the city sidewalk looked as if they had just been slapped across the face with metal gauntlets.

"Wait, let me get this straight. You, Kim Possible, miss perfect, are inviting Drakken and me over for dinner?"

"This is news to me." Ron said under his breath.

Kim stood her ground. It did seem like a strange thing for her to suggest, but if the two of them could turn their lives around into a semblance of normalcy, then perhaps a small dinner party wouldn't be such a bad thing. "Looks like Ron's little sister and Ammie are getting along famously, so why don't you bring her along for a play-date and we'll all sit down to a nice dinner at our apartment. What do you say."

Sherry pursed her lips and nodded. "Okay, Kimmie, you're on. Seven-ish?"

"Sounds good." Kim put on her best smile as the pair collected the toddler and headed on their way.

Ron was standing there with his mouth wide-open. "Did that just happen?"

"Oh, come off it, Ron, so not the drama. We're just four adults sitting down to some dinner."

"Yeah, and two of those adults have tried to kill us, on multiple occasions? Please, please tell me this is some weird revenge thing, tell me that you're planning to do the cooking."

"Ron!" She growled, balling one fist and taking CJ's hand in the other.

"What? I've tried your home-made Nacos. One bite of that and poof, no more mad scientist and his mad assistant."

She cast a glance back at him. "More like 'poof,' somebody's getting acquainted with the futon in the den tonight."

"Are we camping in the den tonight, Kim?" CJ asked.

"Your brother is." She said coldly.

"Aw man." He trudged along after them, wishing for something that could pry his size thirteen from his mouth.

* * *

_A/N – With this chapter, I've brought the larger part of Gene's story to a conclusion. I know a lot of readers were afraid that the 'life change' Ron was going to have to endure would be losing his father. In fact, Gene is going to be with us for some time to come. Readers who have been with me for a while know he's going to be around for a 'later' fic titled "What's the Hitch" where he has a pretty important line._

_His story has paralleled, and is dedicated to Captainkodak1, who recently had his own heart surgery. In fact, many of the details of this process were adapted directly from his story, as he has told on Deviant Art, and many emails and chats we have exchanged. He's doing well now, and like Gene Stoppable, he's going to be with us for many years to come._

_  
The lesson we should all take from this: Listen to your body. It can save your life._

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	28. Chapter 28

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 28**

* * *

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"Talk you into this? It was your idea!"

Two women, both wearing black mock-turtleneck crop tops with three-quarter sleeves, olive cargo pants and tool belts, complete with grappler guns sat in the cave, staring at each other and shivering against the cold on the first true night of winter.

"I should have at least worn my uniform. At least then I would have been able to stay warm." Sherry griped, alternating between teeth chattering and glaring at Kim.

Kim narrowed her eyes at her one-time foe, rubbing her arms to keep them warm. "You said it yourself, Sherry. You didn't want anyone to recognize you."

The raven-haired beauty stared back at the redhead, looking her up and down, though the effect was somewhat lost since both of them were hunched up against the rock wall. "I didn't think I would be faced with freezing to death dressed like you. It's not like the local cops are around here anyway…and I told you, since this is a so-called_ mission_, you're supposed to call me Shego, princess. Gah, if it weren't for the fact my evil career was already in the toilet, I'd never live this down."

"I'll call you what you want to be called the moment you quit calling me princess." Kim griped, looking away from her current tormenter.

"What should I call you? Kimmie? Pumpkin? Cheerleader?"

"Well, if you can't bring yourself to call me Kim, then I guess the last. My parents call me Kimmie. Them I can tolerate." She added softly.

"Hah. I've heard your Dad. He calls you Kimmie-cub…so precious." She added with obvious relish.

"Don't you dare." Kim warned harshly.

Sherry shook her head slowly. "That's too cutesy for even me to use for you." Her smile faded after a couple moments and she looked back out the mouth of the cave at the falling snow. "Hey, if it's any consolation, it's mostly just habit, just like the way Stoppable calls you 'KP.' Wouldn't be surprised if he started calling me SG, since he even calls his sister CJ."

Kim pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Everyone calls her that except her mother. Ron's just got this thing for initials…he's even tried calling Mom and Dad, Mom P and Dad P, though he still lapses into calling 'em Dr P. Somehow I don't think he's used to calling you by your real name."

"I can live with people calling me Shego. Seems like I've gone by that name more than Sherry anyway. Drakken still calls me that. In fact, I think I can count on one hand how many times he's actually called me by my real name, and one of those was when I first told him."

"You still call him Drakken."

Sherry sneered slightly. "Sounds cooler than Drew, don't you think. I dunno. We've both got our bad habits, I guess calling each other by our 'evil' names is the least of our problems." She trailed off with that.

There were problems…and then there were _problems._

The latter didn't have an easy solution, even if it seemed like there should be.

The plan was to actually talk to Kim Possible about some things. It took a bit of soul-searching (and a case of lager) to finally accept that she could not live her whole life holed up in an A-frame cabin halfway up Mount Middleton. She might have separated herself from most of the world, but she still needed people to talk to, people other than a forty-something mad scientist and a toddler…

…especially when the former was the subject of most of that talking.

That left her with some rather slim options. Global Justice may have taken her off their wanted list, but there were plenty of law enforcement agencies around the world who still would dearly love to bring her in, especially in nations who didn't care much for the so-called international force. What's more, there was a price on her head from certain individuals and organizations who did not altogether buy the fact she dropped out of sight simply to spare her daughter from the darker aspects of her lifestyle.

That left her with one person she could actually trust. They were a long way from actually being friends, but even when they were complete enemies, she knew that she could actually trust Kim Possible. It was in the hero's nature. As much as she could trust the slightly younger woman would try to bring her to justice, she could also trust her to be true to her word. That was part of the reason she went to her family when she was pregnant.

Yet, there she was, as alone with Kim as she could possibly hope to be. Stoppable wasn't anywhere near – which in that day and age was amazing in its own right. If the two of them seemed inseparable when they were just best friends, as lovers and soon-to-be-marrieds they seemed like one being. There was a time when she could not imagine such devotion to another human being.

All it took was holding her little girl in her arms to know it was possible for anyone.

Still, she did not chose to love her daughter. That came naturally, unconditionally. It was in deciding to love another person that she was confused, even conflicted. That's why she needed a surrogate 'girlfriend' to talk to, even if that meant confiding in somebody she still thought of as a sort of enemy.

Sherry mimicked Kim's position. Without her powers or the special material of her old _Team Go_ uniform, she was as susceptible to the cold as anyone else and she found herself wishing she had that old green leather jacket Kim had once cajoled her into stealing. Gah! What was she thinking, taking fashion advice from a girl who still thought bare midriffs were fashionable, especially in winter?

The flyer had seemed quite comfortable, and they were supposed to be going someplace warm. Otherwise, Kim probably would have been dressed in that maroon fleece thing of hers and she would have been able to keep the nice sweater/jeans combo she had worn to dinner on. That at least would have been better, if not perfect in the semi-arctic climate they found themselves in.

No, it would have been better just to keep her mouth shut and make it through dinner with Possible and Stoppable. Scratch that…she should have just stayed home and let Drakken make her something. What was she even thinking accepting a dinner invitation from Kimmie in the first place? So they weren't out to kill each other any more. She could live with that, at least for Amethyst's sake.

The dinner itself had seemed so…surreal…

* * *

How do you make small-talk with people who used to be your mortal enemy? Used to be? What exactly had changed? She was still who she used to be, wasn't she? Kim Possible may have taken a sort of 'leave-of-absence' as a formerly-teen hero, but that didn't change who she was inside. Wasn't that what counted?

Sherry glanced beside her at the table, at the sky-blue skin of her roommate. Since they weren't actually going out in public, he had foregone the discomfort of applying makeup, though he didn't go so far as to put on the dark blue lab-coat. Instead he wore a rather conservative suit, cut much the same as the one he had worn as the head of Bueno Nacho, but Navy blue instead of shimmering sky-blue. A dark red tie topped it all off, causing her to smile despite herself.

Drakken actually cleaned up pretty nicely. Now if he would just do something about that silly pony-tail…

…_First we walk_, she reminded herself.

It didn't take much to remind her of the real reason she had agreed to the dinner. Oh, it certainly looked good in her favor that she was doing something 'normal' people actually did. Not that Kimmie and her loser significant other were any more normal than she was when you got right down to it. No, it was the two little girls sitting over in the den watching some inane kid's show on the television. They both sat there, looking like little angels for the moment, staring at the screen as a riot of colors and sounds played out before them.

Sherry had a moment when she realized they were watching the same program she had gotten stuck in with Drakken some years earlier.

Blinking twice, she tried to disconnect herself from what was going on in there. The girls had already been fed their dinner, so the adults could all gather around the table and act like…well…adults.

It really was amazing how much the couple sitting on the other side of the table had changed. She never quite noticed the difference the last few times she had encountered them, especially since that had pretty much been in the field. Sure, it was easy to see that Stoppable had grown up and out slightly, but here in his own home he seemed so much more than she expected.

As a couple out on their own, Kim and Ron seemed well beyond their mere twenty-one years.

Sherry, at twenty-one, had been in South America, raiding a scientist's lab for cybernetic robot tick plans.

"So." Kim said, meeting both her guest's eyes in turn.

"So." Drakken repeated.

"The weather up on the mountain been nice?" Ron asked, grinning slightly with his eyebrows arched.

"It's cold, and the ice didn't help things any." Drakken said, glancing sidelong at Sherry.

"Nice place you've got here, Possible." She commented, kicking Drakken slightly in the shin, for no other reason than she felt like doing it. "It's…cozy."

Kim's smile brightened noticeably. "You do know tha cozy is just a code-word for small."

"Yeah, well…I've lived in smaller. The cabin isn't exactly a mansion, you know."

Drakken shot her another look, which earned him a sharper blow to the shin. "So, what's for dinner? I'm starving." He added, craning his neck so he could see the dishes arrayed on the nearby counter.

"I kept things simple." Ron said, getting up so he could serve their plates. "Mashed potatoes, with the skins left in, green bean casserole and roast beef. The gravy is extra-special – I used some wine in the preparation."

"Roast beast, huh?" Drakken rubbed his hands together, then stuffed his napkin in his collar.

Sherry leaned on her elbow, hiding her eyes behind her hand. "It's roast BEEF, Dr. D. BEEF, not Beast."

"You call it what you will, Shego. I've called it that since I was little." He replied with a smug expression.

"Well…fine. Just don't expect some bug-things to bring you a honking big strawberry."

"Hey, speaking of old TV shows, guess what I've got on DVD." Ron finally sat back down in his own seat, looking directly at Drakken.

"If you're going to go on and on about that cartoon thing you like to watch, don't bother. I've told you before, cartoons make my eyes itch."

Ron looked at him in confusion, until it occurred to him he was speaking of something else entirely. "No, Dr. Drakken, well, yeah, I do have the Christmas episode on disc, but that's not what I'm talking about. They weren't supposed to have it out for this year, but Wade hooked me up with an advanced copy."

"You don't mean…"

"Yep. Digitally remastered, with all the original voices and all the footage they took out for the extra commercials put back in."

"The Six Tasks of Snowman Hank!" Both chorused.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Drakken barked. "Let's finish this travesty of a meal and put that bad boy in the player!"

"It'll keep. We can make sandwiches later!" Ron suggested.

"Wait!" Drakken stopped himself. "What about the girls?"

That prompted Sherry to look up at him. "Don't even think of cutting off their show." She warned.

"We'll ask 'em. They're never too young to be introduced to Snowman Hank!" Ron chirped.

Both Kim and Sherry watched in amazement as two grown men trooped into the den to attempt to convince a two-and-a-half and a three-year-old to give up the main television. Kim actually shuddered, thinking that they might fail and instead head into the bedroom to watch on the smaller set.

The thought of Drakken, even a semi-reformed Drakken in her bedroom…in the bed she shared with Ron…

"Gah! I can't take him anywhere." Sherry bit off the end of her hard-roll, chewing noisily. Both girls ended up hopping on to their respective 'family' member's laps as the old holiday cartoon started.

"It's okay. At least with Ron, I know if he's up half the night it's because he's studying, or he's trying to beat some new game Wade sent him."

"Guess we could have it worse. They could be complete sports nuts and we wouldn't see them for whole weekends."

Kim picked her wine glass up and swirled the contents around slightly. "Uh, speak for yourself. Come baseball season…well, let's just say I'm happy we don't have a major league team in the Tri-City area. What's worse, the most I know about baseball is something teenagers use to describe what happened on their dates."

That caused Sherry's eyebrows to shoot up themselves. She took a sip of her own Pinot before leaning slightly over the table. "Is it my imagination, or did Kim Possible just say something slightly dirty."

"Huh?"

"Or is it like this, Princess, you want people to think your idea of third base is a guy putting his hand on your butt."

"I know quite well what the bases are supposed to be, thank you very much."

"I'll say. That time at the beach house, you were rounding third and it looked pretty much like Snowman Hank's junior disciple in there…" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the den, where both Drakken and Ron were singing the theme song at the tops of their lungs, much to the delight of the toddlers, "…was making a pretty good play for home plate."

Kim sat there, a bite of roast halfway to her mouth, her arm frozen in place, her eyes growing wider as her cheeks put on a fairly good impression of the color of her hair. Even in the faint light of the candles burning on the table, Sherry could have sworn she was glowing red.

"You…saw…that?" she finally choked out in a half whisper, the bit of meat still dangling on the end of her fork.

Sherry pursed her lips slightly, looking away from the younger woman. "Yeah. I was kinda up and since the place didn't have air conditioning, I figured you wanted to let the breeze in. You know, when you're sharing the house with a couple of peeps with ninja training, it kinda goes with the territory we can move around pretty quietly, even when we don't mean to. Hey, relax, Punkin. It actually gave me a little more respect for the two of you. Made you a little more human."

Kim covered her eyes, the fork finally dropping to her plate. "Oh God, oh God, oh God…"

"Hey, Kimmie, don't freak out about it. Look the two of you live together now, I've done the math. Like you always say, it's no big."

She finally held up her hand, palm out. "Look, can we let _that_ drop, 'kay?"

"Just one thing, then I'll shut up about it."

"What is it?" Kim's eyes once again sought shelter behind her fingers.

"Did he return the favor?"

"SHERRY!" She hissed through her teeth. "One more word and so help me, I'm putting your middle name on my blog first thing in the morning.

"Okay, Kimmie, you win. I'll just chalk that up as a yes." She added quietly, prompting her dinner mate to almost hurl her half-eaten roll at her.

She tried fighting down a grin while she tore into her own food with gusto, every so often glancing across the table, noting that the glass of wine had been polished off and she was reaching for the bottle once more. Drinking was something she actually never imagined Kim doing. Granted, it wasn't strong wine and the glass she poured was relatively small, but she knew from her own experience that petite women like them didn't always handle it the best. At one-twenty-five, Sherry knew that, without her powers being active, two glasses would have her at least feeling a slight buzz. Possible had to weigh less, being a couple inches shorter and distinctly slimmer, especially in the upper body.

A strange thought played across her mind. What if she got Kim out doing something she actually enjoyed. Just how much could the hero/student take?

Their eyes met once more, and something else occurred to her.

"Do you miss it?" She asked, picking strips of soggy French onions out of her casserole. Little flashes of memory, bits and pieces of her life with an actual mother, before the comet, before they were taken away came back to her. If she wanted the onions, she was going to have to eat the green beans too. To that day, she would always eat every bit, including the beans, but only after treating herself to the onions topping it first.

What brought that on?

"Do I miss what?" Kim took a big bite of the roll she had almost launched at the jet-haired mother seated diagonally across from her.

"You know what I mean. It's been a few months now. Do you miss the…well, the teen-hero thing?"

"It's not like I'm never going back. It's just…different."

"Well, look at you. You quit the cheerleader thing after high school, now you've quit the hero business. Take it from me, you start dropping too much of what makes you, you, it tends to make you start questioning who you really are, and if you made a mistake."

"I don't miss the fighting. Yeah, I know, if I wanted to we could go at it right here, right now."

Sherry laughed slightly. "I was thinking more like the gym over at the campus. You know, we really never tagged each other that bad, up till the end."

Kim grabbed the sleeve of her sweater and pulled it up until a trio of very faint scars on her upper arm were visible. "Speak for yourself. Yeah, the suit healed itself, but your power left some nasty burns there. It's a wonder they didn't show up in my prom pictures."

"Yeah, well, you managed to fry a good part of my hair and you cracked three ribs when you kicked me into the tower, so we'll call that one square. At least when I tagged you it was in a fair fight, not a sucker punch."

"Oh, like when you clotheslined Ron after that monster zapped me?"

Sherry could see the fire building behind those green eyes. "Hey, whoa. Let's not go down that road. Not in front of the kids, at least."

"Agreed. To answer your question, there is one thing I miss."

"Yeah? And what's that?"

"I miss feeling good."

A sly smile crept across her face. "You mean how good Stoppable was making you feel when he returned the favor? What's wrong, honey, he not doing what you need any more."

"No! I mean yes! I mean, yes, we're doing just fine in that department. More than fine, but I'll leave it at that. What I meant was the feeling I get when I actually help somebody. It's like our first big-time mission. I didn't have to fight anyone, or at least that's how I remember it, since you've seen stuff that said differently. When all was said and done, two people's lives had been saved and that was the biggest rush I'd ever felt. I realized then and there that was my calling, that I could help people. It's also the reason I never wanted to accept money for helping people, because I got my payment in feeling good afterwards. Yeah, I know it sounds a little selfish to say it that way, but I want to be honest about it."

"Felt good to kick me off that roof too, didn't it."

Kim shot her another angry glare.

"Okay, sorry, cheap shot, I'm done."

"Anyway, things just started getting a little out of hand, here with our last year of college, so we're just taking a little break so we can keep our priorities in line."

Sherry wiped her mouth and put the napkin beside her plate, displaying manners Kim wouldn't have expected from her. "You're out of school for the holidays, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Three more weeks, then our last semester starts…or, well, Ron's last semester. I've already started lining up work for my Masters, but since we'll have Ron's BN money, I'll be able to go back to running Team Possible again."

Pushing back from the table, Sherry got up and scanned the apartment. Deciding on her course of action, she started down the hall toward the bedrooms. Automatically, she rejected the pink room that bore a strong resemblance to Kim's room at her old house. It was obvious that was where CJ was living at the time. That was another thing that surprised her, though it did make her a little happy considering the promise she had extracted from Kim when Amethyst was born.

"What are you doing? That's my room!" Kim was hot on her heals as she strode into their bedroom as if she owned the place.

"Just looking for something." She walked around the queen-sized bed, instantly divining which side was actually Kim's.

"Sherry, I don't know what you're up to, but some things are private."

"Cool your jets, Princess. I'm not going to go all CSI to figure out which side of the bed the two of you like to use or what brand of pills you take. Ah, just what I was looking for." Her lithe fingers closed on a small object sitting on the nightstand. There was actually a little dust on the blue plastic device, as it had been sitting there for more than a few days.

"Put that down, Sherry!" Kim ordered.

The black-haired former villainess wasn't paying any attention to her as she pressed the call button on the Mark II Kimmunicator. Just as she figured, it didn't take long for a familiar round face to appear.

"Shego?" Wade was openly shocked to see her holding the omni-device.

"Yeah, it's me, Nerdlinger. Listen, I want you to do me a favor. Somebody needs to go on a little mission."

* * *

Sherry looked out at the mounting blizzard once more. _Best laid plans_, she thought to herself as a light gust brought a fresh chill to her already over-cooled skin. How was she supposed to know that the princess' little brothers had damaged the flyer on their last mission and hadn't bothered reporting it to Wade? It was only good fortune they had been able to find the shelter they did.

Now if only they could find something they could build a fire with. They had to build a fire until the computer-nerd could mount some sort of rescue. Unfortunately, everything was so wet she had used up what little was left in her lighter trying to start the blaze. In retrospect, sneaking a few cigarettes earlier in the day was turning out to be dumb on multiple levels.

Oddly enough, she found herself wishing Drakken was there with her. He might be as big, if not a bigger buffoon than Stoppable was at times, but she found she really liked his touch. That was one of the things that had been bothering her, what she wanted to talk to another woman about, even if that woman was Kim Possible.

Yeah, the first time she could play off as having a little too much wine. The second time she could chalk up to boredom and curiosity, since no drink was involved.

The times after that, including the night before…that was because she was starting to like it.

How could she tell Kimmie that Drakken and her were…lovers.

She looked over at Kim, who was herself shivering violently. Part of her knew that the younger woman was missing her lover at that moment as well, and that the feeling went deeper, far deeper than the sex.

As quietly as her partial ninja-training would allow, she got up and sat down beside the other woman, wrapping her arms around her. Boy, the nutcases on the internet would have a field day if they could see them, even if it was just two people trying to pool their warmth.

She took solace in the fact she really wished it was Drakken she was curled up with.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	29. Chapter 29

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 29**

* * *

"I thought you said you could fly this thing." Ron griped, wishing he could let go of his own controls to wipe the sweat dripping from his brow.

A pair of dark eyes shot over toward the man sitting beside him. His reply came through a set of brilliantly white, perfect teeth. "Of course I can fly, you buffoon. I've been flying since before you and your girlfriend were old enough to play with Brittany dolls."

Ron didn't have the luxury of looking over at Drakken. His job required every bit of his concentration, though what the older man had said required some reply. "One, Kim is my fiancé, not just my girlfriend and B, Brittina is our age and her dolls weren't out until we were fifteen and three, Kim never played with skinny plastic girl dolls."

Ron could have sworn he heard those pearly whites splintering in the man's jaw. "That's not what that Amy woman said. She kept prattling on about how the only redeeming quality of Kim Possible was they played with the same dolls. Now, quit talking to me so I can pay attention, dolt!"

"You're not helping anything, Doctor D. Here, let me take the controls before you get both of us killed! Oh, and those weren't girly dolls, those were Cuddlebuddies."

"I can't give you the controls right now, or we'll crash, now do like I told you and shut up. You wanted to be the one to handle the weapons systems. Nyaargh, if Shego were the one at the controls, this wouldn't be happening."

Ron jabbed at his controls furiously, but to no avail. Their ship was already wobbling under Drakken's uncertain control and the incoming flak was just getting worse. The weapons attached to their craft were supposed to be able to take out the gun emplacements, but something was wrong. For one thing, they were obviously flying too high, though not high enough to escape the flak, yet their own weapons were woefully out of range.

"See, I told you it wouldn't work. I've seen your flying and even I was able to get away from you on a scooter." Ron bellowed at Drakken.

The azure hued man wasn't impressed. "That was beginner's luck, and I wasn't the one flying, I was the one operating the Gravatomic Ray. If you want to blame anyone, blame Shego for that."

"Well, I can't do that SINCE SHE ISN'T HERE RIGHT NOW!" Ron fired the energy cannon once more, with little effect since the craft was bouncing too much for him to line up a shot.

"You're going to get both of us killed!" Drakken growled as he fought to regain control of their vehicle.

"I'm going to? You're the one who flies like he's an old woman on the expressway, driving ten miles under the speed limit with the turn signal blinking for the last ten miles!"

"Well…you were supposed to take care of the incoming fire!" Drakken snarled right back.

There was a loud 'whomp' and the wild bucking stopped. It wasn't the fact that the flak had abated, but that Drakken was no longer in any kind of control of the craft. Smoke started filling the cockpit, making it hard to see any of the readouts. The smoke was quickly followed by fire…

…then blackness came…

…followed by fiery red script reading "Game Over."

Ron dropped his wireless controller onto the floor, rubbing his temples in frustration. Drakken merely sat there on the edge of the futon couch, staring at the television set.

"I thought you said _Space Passage: Pod Pilot Fracas_ was supposed to be 'da-bomb on bomb?'" the older man said, finally sinking back into the puffy cushions.

"It is, but I still haven't been able to get past level three. I just thought it would be easier if we teamed up to make the run." He sat back as well, crossing his arms over his chest. "Guess I'm gonna have to call Wade tomorrow and get the cheat codes. Darn it, I wanted to play it clean, but I'm stumped."

"Maybe you should get Possible to play it with you. If she can do anything, she certainly should be able to fly one of those things."

Ron shrugged, staring across the room at the accusing words still showing on the screen. As he watched, it finally faded to black before restarting the cut-scenes. "Nah. Kim doesn't go much for the Sci-Fi stuff, and this one especially gets to her since she actually had to try and fly one of those things once. She doesn't do much with games anyhow."

"That's what I don't get about the two of you, Stoppable. You cook, she can't. You play video games, she doesn't. She's smarter than you…"

"Hey!"

"Well, the truth hurts. So there."

"So, you're trying to say that Kim and I shouldn't be together?"

"No, that's _not_ what I'm saying. Yeesh, you are so touchy when it comes to the two of you. What I'm trying to say is that the two of you seem made for each other, despite having so many differences. Even I could see that, Mister 'She's Not My Girlfriend.'"

Ron sat up straight for a moment, holding a hand up to shush the 'retired' villain. "Sorry, thought I heard CJ. I'm surprised she didn't wake up. We've been having a hard time with her when she's supposed to go to bed. She's trying to be brave, but I think what's happened to Dad is getting to her a little."

"Humph. At her age it's more likely she's upset about being uprooted from her regular bed. She seemed to settle down pretty well tonight."

Ron looked down the hall, craning his neck. The room itself was dark, but the hall light was left on as a night-light. If their semi-out-of-control game play had bothered the two girls, they weren't making a peep. Somehow he knew that both of them were probably still sound asleep.

He nodded toward the sleeping children's room. "Ammie seems quite taken with CJ. How is she with other kids?"

Drakken looked honestly perplexed at the question. "I…I don't think she has ever been around other kids."

"Really? No play-groups? Pre-K?"

He shrugged, a gesture almost lost on his soft, round shoulders. "She's only two and a half. Maybe Shego will take her to Pre-K next year. She tends to be…rather protective of her." He sat back once more, staring straight ahead, but not focusing on anything in particular. "Mother asked the same question." He said softly.

"Maybe she could hang out with CJ. You saw how the two of them were playing together."

"Yes. Perhaps. It just seems, how would you say it? Wrong and sick?"

"That's sick and wrong, but what has that got to do with two little girls playing together?"

"My little girl and your sister, who you are now raising like a daughter, playing together? Is that not ironic?"

"Hey, they don't have to know you…did you say _your_ little girl?"

"Why yes. Amethyst thinks I'm her Daddy, and Shego has said nothing different." He looked down the hall and smiled – and it wasn't his usual evil grin, but an honest, warm smile that completely changed the look of the man. It was the same change that came over him when the quarter-century old Christmas cartoon started, only magnified ten-fold. If it weren't for his cerulean skin and the livid scar under his left eye, Ron wouldn't have known he was looking at Dr. Drakken.

"She thinks you're her…Daddy? You mean like, you and Shego…"

The cogs in Ron's mind slipped a gear, grinding totally to a halt for just a moment as that concept seeped into his head.

Slightly misinterpreting what the younger man was thinking, Drakken slipped into his usual scowl once more. "Get your mind out of the gutter, boy. Amethyst does not have a real father, so I am the dominant adult male influence in her life, and Shego recognizes that it's healthy for her to have that."

Ron wiped his brow. "Whew. For a moment there it sounded like the three of you were forming your own evil little family."

"Well…we are. I thought you were just thinking that Shego and I were…"

"Whoa there, Doc. The last thing I need is a mental image of you two…let's just leave it there."

"Good. We'll never speak of it again."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Well then." A slight grin formed on Ron's face as he leaned way back into the overly plush sofa. "Ever seen her naked?"

"I thought we were not speaking of that?" Drakken growled dangerously.

"Oh, come on, Doc. The two of you live in that little cabin, I'm talkin' about you accidentally walking into the bathroom while she's in the tub."

Drakken sat up a little straighter, trying to look dignified. "That has not happened."

"I bet it has." Ron's grin got a little wider.

"Has not. Do you have any idea how dangerous that sort of thing would be?"

"Yeah, but she can't use her powers."

"That does not matter. She would still kick my backside six ways from Sunday without breaking a sweat."

Ron crossed his arms once more. "Answer the question, honestly, and I'll let it drop."

"Fine, if you want to be that way. Nyaargh. I've seen Shego without her clothes on. Satisfied?"

"I am, but were you?"

"Stoppable!"

"Scuse me a sec, Doctor D. I've got to write this down."

Drakken's unibrow shot up over his left eye. "Write what down?"

"You said my name without having to be prompted. This is historic."

"Oh, I know your name. It's not like it's all that hard to remember."

"Really. Okay, what's my first name? You should know it, KP's shouted it enough around you."

"Oh please. Your whole name is Ronald Eugene Stoppable. Yes, don't look so surprised. I know your name. I also know your father's name, your mother's name, her maiden name, Kim Possible's whole name, her father's name, her mother's maiden name. I've told you time and time again, I'm a genius. It pays to know everything you can about your enemies."

Ron sat up straight, looking Drakken right in the eyes. "The how come you never can remember it when we fought you?"

"Hah! Why do you think? Or are you as dense as I've always said?"

"Uh."

"Because it ticks you off, and sometimes, when I get into my rants I just can't think about it. It's not like you were all that effective. Possible was the one I was concentrating on."

"Hey, I'm the one who broke your hyper-whatever in your invisible lair, I'm the one who took out that thing you launched on Christmas Eve."

"Well, everyone has their day. The point is, I know who you are. How do you think I had so much information on Possible's Nana."

"I was wondering about that. You seemed to have an awful lot on her, and only minutes after you learned who she was."

"I…didn't have a current picture…and I was concentrating on my plot at the time. I wasn't expecting one of those oldsters to turn out to be her grandmother.

Ron sat back again. "You know, I think I just figured something out about you."

"Oh? What's that?" Drakken half-growled.

"You're actually a pretty smart guy…"

"Of course I'm smart. I'm a genius."

"…when you're not being evil."

"I'm…what do you mean not being evil? I've always been evil. I was born evil. I'm an evil genius."

"But you said it yourself, when you're in the middle of your evil schemes, you get all mixed up and stuff. I'm willing to bet you'd have been every bit as good a scientist at Kim's Dad if you weren't trying to be evil all the time."

It was Drakken's turn to cross his arms, almost defensively. "I'm still evil. It's not something I can just turn on and off."

"Yeah, it's real evil, giving up on all those whack projects and everything and moving into a little cabin on the mountain just so your girlfriend can make a play at going straight."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"I think she is." Ron sing-songed.

"We're just friends…and friends do things for each other. You of all people should understand that."

"Drakken, if you want to talk about things I should understand…look at me and Kim. You brought up that slip I made a little while ago from back before we got together. The tables are turned right now, and believe me, you love her."

"Yes…as a friend." His voice cracked, ever so slightly.

"Doc, KP and I have always been, and always will be best friends. That's the best part of our relationship. It makes what we have together so much more special. So you haven't known her since you were four. The things you do for her…if she's not your best friend…"

"She is." Drakken's voice got soft and he looked away from the younger man.

"You ever tell her how you feel?"

"I…" His eyes narrowed as he turned back toward Ron. "I am not talking about my feelings with you, Stoppable."

Ron wasn't going to be dissuaded so easily. "I heard what you said to her when she left with Kim a couple hours ago. You said 'be careful, Shego.'

"Of course I told her to be careful. She hasn't been 'in the game' for several years now."

"Uh huh, and you love her."

"Nyaargh. Why is it so important for you to go on about this? By all rights I should just tie you up, take you to one of my lairs and hold you for ransom or something. It'd serve you right, talking to me like this."

Ron shook his head. "But you won't, because you love her."

Drakken's voice dropped to a low whisper. "I won't because I love my little girl. Shego can take care of herself, but if anything were to happen to us…"

Ron's eyes narrowed as he faced Drakken. "If anything happened to you two…do you know what Shego…Sherry made Kim promise when Amethyst was born? You see that little girl here tonight, the one who looks so much like me it's not funny? Do you know why she's living with us instead of across town with her parents?"

"That's just Possible babysitting because your father is ill." He answered shakily.

"Yeah. If you boil it right down, you could say that, but it goes beyond that. Back when we were still just kids, when Kim technically was just my girlfriend, when Mom was pregnant with CJ, she asked her to be CJ's godmother, for us to be her godparents. That means if something ever happened, then we would take her and raise her as our own. Yeah, this is just temporary until Dad gets back on his feet, but it's part of that promise."

"Wait, are you saying…"

"Yeah I am. Sherry asked Kim the same thing about Amethyst. I know I've only seen her enough times to count on one hand, but we're her godparents too. So if something happens to you two, whether it's the two of you going to prison, which, by the way, can still happen, or if some of your old enemies decide to come calling, Ammie has a home."

"I…I didn't know that."

"Well, now you do. Isn't that something, the one person you hate most in the world is the one who's going to take care of your 'little girl' is something bad happens. You wanna talk about irony…"

"That still doesn't have anything to do with my relationship with Shego."

"Except that you love her."

"We've already been over that. Yes, she's my best friend."

"Best friend with benefits." Ron said, smirking as he remembered the old song.

"We…that's none of your business, Stoppable."

_Booyah, got it in one_, Ron thought to himself, though he instantly regretted it, considering the mental image he had of the two of them…

"Ah, come on, Doc. Sherry's hot. Even I noticed that the first time I ever saw her, though Kim was right, she's not my type."

"Neither am I. You met Amethyst's real father. Tall, muscular, her age. That's her type."

"Type has nothing to do with it. Face it, Dr. D. He's gone and maybe, just maybe she's ready to move on. You were fishing for something about me and Kim a little while ago. That got something to do with it?"

"No…maybe. I don't know. Just thinking about something, that's all." Drakken re-crossed his arms, leaning back in the seat. "Just how long were they supposed to be gone anyway?"

"They took the flyer, so they should really be back in maybe an hour. It's just a milk-run, delivering some critical components to a research facility in the Canadian Rockies."

"Ah, Canada. Sparkling clean cities, good health care."

"You're not going back to that _Drakkanada _thing, are you?"

"It would have worked, if it hadn't been for you…"

"Meddling kids?"

"I wasn't going to say that."

"Yes you were."

"Gah, fine."

"Besides, isn't it better Kim shut down your weather thingy, instead of the Canadian Air Force shooting you down?"

"Whatever. Water under the bridge. Or in the cockpit, as it were." He looked over at the clock on the DVD player, having never gotten into the habit of wearing a watch. "Maybe I should have just gone home, if Ammie hadn't fallen asleep…"

Ron heard a sound he wasn't expecting. The disc on his _Game Cylinder III_ started whirring on its own, something it wasn't supposed to do unless one of them hit the reset button. He was about to grab his controller when the screen winked to life.

Both of them looked a little shocked when Wade appeared on the television screen.

"Ron, I've been calling your Kimmunicator for the last ten minutes, why haven't you picked up?"

"Uh, it's kinda at the other end of the apartment, in the bottom of a drawer." He said sheepishly.

"There's trouble. The flyer lost power and they had to land. On top of that, I've lost contact with them."

Ron was instantly on his feet. "They're okay, right?"

"I don't know. She said they found a place to land, but I can't raise her on her Kimmunicator. What's worse, there's a huge snow storm blanketing the area. The Canadian authorities can't send a rescue chopper, and for some reason, GJ can't spare a hoverjet."

"The twins and Joss?"

"They're in Austria at the moment, trying to run down Dementor. Right now, the only thing I can think of that can get there is one of Dr. Drakken's saucers."

"But he doesn't have them…" He fretted, pacing back and forth, only just noticing the blue ex-villain staring at the ceiling.

"You've still got one, don't you?"

"Maybe." Drakken suddenly looked like the proverbial kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"It's parked out front." Wade said dryly.

Ron stared at him a moment. For all his talk about not wanting to get them in any kind of trouble, something so noticeable as a bun-shaped hover-car was a bit much.

"Amethyst loves being flown in them, okay!" Drakken growled as Ron ran into his room, grabbing his heavy coat. Not having anything that would fit the older man, he simply reached into the back of his closet, pulling out the lab coat he had borrowed for Halloween. It, at least, was made of material similar to Shego's green and black jumpsuit, and would protect him to some degree in the frigid northern weather.

"Come on, Blue Boy, what are we waiting for." He hastily strapped his own mini-Kimmunicator to his wrist, hoping the batteries were in good shape after sitting idle for months. He hit the door, already hitting the call button for Kim's old home.

"Just go." Wade said. "I've already called them. Kim's Mom is already on her way to watch the girls."

"Got it." Ron said, dragging the mad scientist along with him. His flying skills may have been suspect, but he had seen enough of the saucers to know he didn't have a chance of operating it without him.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	30. Chapter 30

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 30**

* * *

Kim was just a bit too angry with herself to be truly upset about the position she found herself in. Sitting huddled together with Sherry, wrapped in a silver survival blanket was actually a pretty wise thing to do, given their current predicament. No, it was the fact they were in that sitch to begin with that had her so tweaked. In that case, Sherry was the only other human being present and pooling their warmth was necessary. It would have been beyond stupid to refuse and sit alone simply because it simply looked embarrassing. When the local Search and Rescue team found them, they wouldn't think anything of it, though she hoped beyond hope none of them had a digital camera with them. 

She was in no mood to make the front page of the tabloids again, especially since the last time featured her wearing nothing but a slightly skimpy (by her standards) bikini along with a story about her living with 'some guy.'

"What were we hauling anyway, Kimmie?" Sherry pulled the mylar blanket closer around her shoulders. That was another thing Kim was beating herself up about. Instead of parachutes, the ejector seats of the flyer had a set of their gli-packs, and inside of those were small emergency kits including the blankets. They had saved her life once before after she crashed with Ron in Greenland. It actually took the other woman asking if there were anything at all in the vehicle they could use to get warm. Her idea had been to unpack the non-existent parachutes and use them as blankets. It took her another ten minutes to remember the kits.

It was hard to speak without her teeth chattering. "It's just parts and technical supplies for a scientific outpost. Like I said, this was supposed to just be a delivery."

Sherry crinkled her nose. "Kinda funny, the great Kim Possible playing delivery girl."

"Oh, shut it, Sherry. I help people, period. It's not all running out to save the world, sometimes it really is just helping somebody get a cat out of the tree."

"Hey, I was just saying it was funny. I always thought it was somebody, like for instance me, who was gonna do you in."

"If I didn't think it would mess up this blanket, I'd elbow you in the ribs, though I don't think you'd feel it through that baby-fat."

"Oh, keep talking, Princess. Just you wait, all that bumping nasty with Stoppable is going to catch up to you, then let's take a look at that narrow butt of yours, and for your information I lost all the weight I put on about four months after I had Ammie. I can't help it if I've got a more womanly figure than you."

"I'm sorry, Sherry, I'm just majorly tweaked."

"Princess, you can say pissed-off. It's not like I'm going to get offended or anything."

"I don't like talking that way." She replied softly.

"Oh, let me guess, you drop a hammer on your toe and you shout phooey or something, don't you. Come on, Punkin, sometimes you've just got to let it out. Sometimes you've just got to say what the…"

"Sherry!" Kim hissed.

"Well, at least you know the word. So, besides the fact Dweeb-go-round's toy flyer has us stranded here in a blizzard has you so…majorly tweaked." She said the last doing her best impression of Kim's accent and slightly higher pitched voice.

"Because I was so stupid."

"Possible, there's stupid, then there's bad luck."

"Really? Stupid is going outside the house, in the winter, without so much as putting on a decent sweater, all because the flyer was already warmed up and we were going to be landing in a hanger. Stupid is keeping my Kimmunicator sitting on my nightstand for months without putting it on the charging cradle. Stupid is not getting the newer wrist unit that has five-year batteries in it." She gave the grappler on Sherry's waist a pat. "Stupid is not anticipating an emergency like this."

"Stupid like forgetting to pick up your cell-phone for a trip to the store, then getting a flat and the spare isn't there? Face it, Kimmie, you're a human being, much as I used to hate to admit it."

If they weren't huddled together, Kim would have glared at her. Instead she nestled closer to the woman, purely because she was the only other source of heat in the meager shelter. "I've been burned by going into a sitch unprepared before. I should have learned my lesson then."

"Yeah, well, live and learn. Sure would have been funny though."

"Funny? What?"

"You showing up at that lab, all decked out in that tight black thing of yours. 'Hey, here I am, the super-hero. Here's your spare parts.'"

"I was thinking more along the lines of a decent coat and spare batteries for the Kimmunicator." She laughed slightly despite herself, imagining the actual sight of her walking in there in her super-suit, the blue power bands glowing softly. There was a reason they got so many stares when they went to see Doctor Porter.

"Prin…Kim. Let's get this off the table. If we freeze to death here, then I give you permission to beat yourself up about it. Scratch that, I'm gonna kick your narrow butt from one end of hell to the other, but until that happens, no harm, no foul."

"Sounds strange coming from you."

"Hey, I'm not letting you off too easy there, Kimmie. Next time I take Ammie in for a checkup, I'm gonna stop by your Mama's office and tell her you left the house without a jacket."

Kim actually did lean back slightly and look her companion in the eyes. "You are evil."

"I do what I can." Sherry said softly.

"No, I mean it. Do you know what Mom is going to do to me?"

"I've got a pretty good idea. She's been nagging me to get a full physical every time I see her."

"Yeah, she'll probably camp out on my doorstep to make sure I don't do it again. I parachute into an active volcano and it's like just another day at the office, but if I so much as get a sniffle…did you know she almost grounded me that time I went on a mission sick."

"Oh yeah. Remind me when we get home to kick your butt around some. I still owe you for giving me that cold."

"Hey, I warned you I was going to sneeze."

"Do you have any idea what I had to go through after that? I'm not talking about being bundled up in a rug either."

"I had the same cold. Fever, body aches, dizziness, congestion. I know exactly what you were going through."

"Uh uh. You don't. I had it far worse than you can even imagine."

"Drakken." Both of them said in unison.

"He was like 'Shego, get me some soup' or 'Shego, I need more tissues' or my favorite 'Shego, I dropped the remote in the moat again.' Gah, do you have any idea what the water in that thing is like?"

"Well, it was green."

"Yeah, and it didn't start out that way."

Both women sat there quietly for a few minutes. "What's taking them so long?" Sherry finally asked, looking in the direction of the entrance, though it had grown so dark she could no longer see the snow falling outside.

"They'll be here. Wade had a good fix on our position before the power cells died completely. We may just be a long way away from anyone. It's not like the Canadian Search and Rescue teams have hyper-sonic aircraft at their disposal."

"Maybe we should have taken Drakken's hover-car."

"Doy, I'm cold enough as it is, let alone flying around in an open-cockpit saucer."

Kim could feel the other woman shaking her head. "I made Drakken put a canopy on it. Heaven knows, Ammie never gets sick, but I'm not tempting fate. When I was her age I was constantly getting sore throats, ear aches, all that sort of thing. In fact, I never really was that healthy until I got my powers."

"Wait a minute. Your powers, couldn't they heat us up some."

"Sorry, Possible, it doesn't work that way."

"I thought your plasma could burn through things."

She shook her head once more. "Don't ask me to explain it in scientific terms, but my 'glow' really isn't plasma. It's more like force. When I 'burn' something, it's more like it's ground up to dust."

"But you said your powers made you healthier."

"Hey, that could have been puberty. I got my period and these." She hugged her own chest. "About the same time as the comet hit. Could've been coincidence."

"You think your powers could make you less susceptible to the cold?"

"I don't see how. It never changed my body temperature. Besides, lighting up burns energy. It has to come from somewhere, so I figure that'll just make me cold even faster."

"Just a thought."

"Besides, if somebody shows up to rescue us, how are they going to react to having a mint-green woman sitting there in the helicopter. I don't know about you, but I'd be on the horn to my boss and guess what, some Cannucklehead is going to get in the papers for capturing Shego."

"Point taken, though you could change back."

"Takes time, Kim. About five minutes when I'm well rested and can concentrate. It's not like 'blink' I'm normal again."

Again, they sat for a while in silence, perhaps for half an hour. Finally, Sherry couldn't take it any more.

"This is going to sound really random, but your hair smells nice."

Kim shifted her eyes toward the other woman, though it was by far too dark to see. "So, what are we going to do now, trade beauty secrets?"

"Hey, it just feels a little warmer talking. I've always heard it's dangerous to fall asleep like this."

Kim rested her head against her companion's again. "Actually, I did kinda doze off there a bit. Oh, and by the way, it's _Bath & Body Factory Mandarin Mango shampoo._ Normally I like the lavender, but this stuff smells a little more cheerful."

"We really are such women, aren't we, spending ten bucks for a bottle of shampoo. Drakken just washes his hair with the soap bar. I think he's done that every since the 'Lather, Rinse, Obey' fiasco, scared somebody's going to slip some of that stuff into the shower."

"Ron used to do the same thing, up until we started showering…" She trailed off, feeling a touch of warmth on her face.

"Uh huh. Hey, nothing to be ashamed of. It's actually kinda cute, if you ask me. Tell me something, Kim. How did you know?"

"Know? Know what?"

"About Stoppable…about Ron. Yeah, I know all about his little speech at Bueno Nacho, I've read about it plenty in the tabloids. That was just a couple high-school kids finally hooking up. I mean, when did you know he was…it?"

"That's actually kind of hard to say. There really wasn't any one breakthrough moment like the night of our junior prom. In a way, I think we were already like that. He even told me he loved me the next morning, and I knew he meant it."

"Whoa, you spent the…why Kimmie, you little minx, you."

"Sherry! We walked across town and sat on a bluff watching the sunrise."

"Not like I have room to talk. I remember my prom. We danced until about eleven, then we snuck out…which means we had to sneak past Herman…you know, Hego?"

"I've gotten to know your brothers a little better over the years."

"Well, he decided to play chaperone, especially since he didn't like Neil all that well, so we snuck out and broke into my old house. Place had been vacant for almost two years…we never really went back there much after the comet hit. We were young, stupid and didn't know a damn thing we were doing."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I ended up getting tossed off a roof by Aviarius and I…" She trailed off, wiping her face so the tears rolling down her cheeks didn't have a chance to freeze. "Kim, I would have been a mother at seventeen. I slept with him exactly twice without using…stuff and both times I ended up pregnant."

"You're seeing somebody now, aren't you?"

Sherry took a moment to sniff. "Yeah. That's why I asked you about how you know."

"You love him?"

"I…I don't know. It's not like it was with Neil. Him I loved and it was like the one thing I really knew in the world. Now it's like, I think I might love him, or maybe I just like him, or maybe it's love, but not that kind of love."

"Sherry, I always loved Ron. It's just that I didn't know it was romantic love, for lack of a better term, until that night. It's okay to love somebody that way. It's also okay to love somebody the other way. I can't even begin to tell you how to tell them apart, since I spent so much of my life confused about which one it was. Would you be sad if he went away?"

"Yeah."

Kim's voice went a little lower. "Is he…good?"

Sherry pursed her lips slightly. "Assuming an awful lot there, aren't you Punkin?"

She could tell the younger woman was glaring at her in the darkness.

"Okay, fine. He's…good, but a little inexperienced. I think he might come along nicely, with a little gentle coaching."

"On another note, does Drew know?"

She almost bit down on her lower lip. "Yeah, he knows."

"As a woman who has had exactly one serious boyfriend in her whole life and has been with exactly one man her whole life, I'm not the best to offer you any real advice on all this, but what I can say is just take it easy until you know for sure."

"I'm not getting any younger, Kim."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Sherry, you're what, twenty six? Twenty Seven?"

"Twenty seven."

"Get back to me when you're forty and you still don't know. Heck, I get crap from certain quarters that I'm getting married at twenty-one."

"Guess you're right. So, you and Stoppable, rub-a-dub-dub, huh?"

"It's…fun. It's something simple and intimate we can do together and that first apartment we had, the water heater was so pathetic we about had to share one just to have enough hot water. Then there was this hotel, well, more of a bed-and-breakfast in Vermont we went to a while back. It had one of those great big, old-fashioned claw-foot tubs, the kind that's so big I can still sink up to my shoulders, with him in there with me. So, he get's…well, you can guess."

"Uh huh?" Sherry almost laughed, enjoying the tale.

"So, there's this rubber duck floating in there with us, and he's still soaping me up, grinning from ear-to-ear, so you know what I do?"

"Did it involve splashing most of the water out of the tub?"

"Noooo. I started singing. You know, that song from that kid's show, about that guy with the football shaped head singing to his rubber duck?"

"Oh no, you didn't."

"Yep. All the while he's trying to be 'Mister Suave' and I'm holding this duck going 'Squeeka-Squeeka.' Yeah, we did splash a lot of water out, but that was from him laughing his head off."

The two women laughed themselves for a bit, which did a lot to warm them up.

"You know, Possible, I used to hate you. I mean, I used to hate you so much I wanted to stick my hand in your chest and rip out your heart. Well, sometimes. I guess most of the time I just wanted to finally just beat you. But you know what, I think now I just envy you."

"Who knows, Sherry. Maybe this guy is right for you. Hey, I just thought of something…does he like Ammie?"

"Loves her. I think that's one of the biggest things I see in him."

"That's good. In fact, that's great."

"Spankin?"

Kim laughed slightly. "Yeah, Spankin. Don't get to talk like that so much any more. It's not like my professors are going to take me seriously if I keep walking into class and asking 'What's the sitch?'"

They both giggled about that for a couple minutes. "So, Kim. Does Stoppable shout that work, you know, when he…?"

"Booyah?"

"That's the one."

"Oh yeah." She answered, grinning widely.

* * *

"I thought you said you could fly this thing." Ron griped, wishing he was the one at the controls of the wildly bucking craft. He knew that wouldn't have helped much, since the knobs and levers at the pilot's seat didn't conform to any other known flying machine. There was also the fact he had no real skill with the flyer or any other vehicle of the type – and those were made with intuitive controls. 

Still, he was quickly turning a shade of green that would have done the former villain's 'girlfriend' proud.

"Will you please shut up, you annoying little buffoon! This is not some video game, if I lose control of this we will crash and we will both be dead for real. Now, look at the GPS console again and tell me how close we are to the coordinates."

Ron scowled at the older man, but did as he was told. The last known position of the flyer was highlighted in yellow, while their craft was red. The two dots on the grid were actually quite close together.

"We've got to be right on top of them."

"Well, I can't see a thing. Are you sure you're reading that thing correctly?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who designed this flying hamburger bun."

"It's a French-roll. Any idiot can see that, idiot."

"It's a flying saucer, Drakken, and it looks like a hamburger bun to me. Anyway, look for yourself. The little yellow dot thingy is less than an inch from the red dot thingy."

Holding the controls as best he could in the howling, near white-out conditions, he examined the console himself, checking to see he had it set to the proper scale. "Yes, you're actually right, for a change. We should be able to see them."

Ron wiped the partially fogged canopy. "I don't think we're going to see them unless we actually run into them. How high are we?"

Drakken had long ago given up on trying to fly visually, and was relying on a three-dimensional topographical map of the region to keep from running directly into a mountain. "High enough that we don't crash."

Ron shook his head, pointing down at the unseen ground below them. "Look, we're either going to have to get lower, or we're going to have to get out and search on foot. We could be fifty feet from them and we'd never know it. With the shields off, the flyer is probably under a foot of snow by now."

"Why can't your computer-geek just lock into whatever it is he uses to keep track of Shego and myself. Oh, don't look so shocked, I know he's got us bugged somehow. I would do the same thing if I were in his position. I'm even willing to bet he's got a tracking tag on you and Possible as well."

Ron stared at his fiancé's former nemesis for moment longer. Wade had done exactly that, though they figured it out long ago and had come to accept the presence of the tracking chips embedded in their necks. "Something to do with the satellites. You'd know better than me. All I know is Wade said it wouldn't work."

"Nyaargh. Stupid junk never works when you're roaming. Okay, Stoppable, that means you are actually right. We're going to have to do this old-school. I hope you wore your thermal undies, because it's quite frigid out there."

"I'll be fine. It's Kim…and Shego I'm worried about…wait!"

"What is it now?"

"Look, over there, about a hundred feet away!"

* * *

A slim, female figure lingered in the mouth of the cave for a moment. In the darkness the silver piping of her skin-tight suit glowed slightly, though the two women huddled under the silver and bronze colored blanket were not awake to see it. Despite their fears, both of them had finally drifted off to sleep, a dangerous proposition in such conditions. 

She stood there a moment, trying to make up her mind. She knew what was going to happen, and knew she wasn't supposed to do anything about it, yet it pained her terribly to see the two of them suffering like they were.

It was terrible seeing history unfolding before her eyes.

It would be so easy for her to open a lens, sending them first to a 'neutral' space on a distant planet, then bring them back to their nice, warm homes back here on Earth, but that is what happened that night. They both lived, saved by their respective mates when Shego flared up her powers to signal Drew Lipsky's hover-car.

The only problem was, the appointed moment was fast approaching, yet the two of them were showing no signs of waking. Was it her place to wake them so they could be rescued? What kind of questions would they have then? Such as, why did she simply not take them to shelter, or perhaps, more importantly, who was she?

Even over the howling wind, she could hear the engines of the saucer overhead. A faint orange glow marked its passage, just over the tree-tops. In moments, they might even be gone, searching someplace else in vain for the two women.

It was time to act, history be damned.

Holding her gloved hand out, she ignited her powers. At first her hand was surrounded by a halo of purple light. That slowly changed in character until it more closely resembled Shego's glow power, though it remained purple.

She knew she could do it, but it took a moment's concentration. Slowly the glow changed until it was bright green. Pointing her hand into the sky, she fired a concentrated beam, hoping that it was actually her power the rescue craft saw, and not Shego's.

Moments later, she was rewarded with the sound of the hover-car once more approaching her position.

Looking back over her shoulder, she looked once more at the two somnolent women. "See you later, Mother, Mom K."

She stepped into the darkness and was gone.

* * *

a/n - Once again, I've referenced some artwork by the lovely and talented Ivymae457. In this case, it was originally done as a pencil drawing and the original is on her private site. You can see a color version (done by yours truly) on my DeviantArt page, which, as always, can be reached through my profile. It's titled "Ivymae's Squeeka-Squeeka"

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	31. Chapter 31

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 31**

* * *

"This seems…familiar." Kim said softly, taking a sip of wine. She had nursed the glass for about an hour, enjoying the complex flavors without much concern over how the alcohol was going to affect her. The soft, velvet tones of Nat King Cole drifted from hidden speakers, proclaiming just what was roasting over the open fire.

Carefully holding her glass, she closed her eyes and nestled her head down onto Ron's shoulders. Somewhere nearby he had a mug that was supposed to contain eggnog, though it was likely Rufus had already finished his own and had moved onto his human's. He really didn't care at the moment, since his arms, and therefore his hands, were occupied with something much more important; that being wrapped around Kim's waist as they sat on the sofa at her parent's house.

Ron kissed the top of her head and whispered in her ear. "Don't be strollin' down memory lane too much, considering all the 'rents and the rest of the family are all close by." He nodded toward the round-backed love seat, where Joss and Bobby had settled in much the same way Kim and Ron had.

"I'm fighting the strongest urge to go upstairs right now, even though I know there isn't a bed in the room at the moment." She breathed back at him, drawing her knees up toward the rest of her body.

"Eh, everybody in the house, except maybe CJ, would figure out pretty quickly what we were doing. Besides, we haven't actually gotten to the holiday skit or dinner yet, and you know what I want to do at eight."

Kim had to open her eye so she could roll them. "Baby, you've got it on DVD, as well as on the hard drive of our computer. Wade could even stream it over your Kimmunicator." She let her free hand drift over his wrist unit. They might have been on a leave of absence, but there was no reason they should be completely out of touch.

"I know, KP, but there's just something badical about actually seeing it on TV, even if they run ten minutes of commercials every five minutes. I'm just glad they saw it my way and brought it back."

She sat up slightly and looked back at him. "Oh, so it's completely because of you they're showing _Snowman Hank_ for the first time in five years?"

"I'd like to think the Ronster had his own small part to play. I did participate in the online petition to bring it back. Ah, Booyah."

"I guess I should be glad you never sent in that script for _Kimbo the Redhead Reindeer."_ She eyeballed the swallow left in her glass and drained it in one gulp before passing the empty to her beloved so he could put it on a coaster.

"Hey, everyone who read it thought it was funny." Ron mock-pouted, since he considered the whole thing just a private joke among some of their friends.

"So not the comedy." She closed her eyes and snuggled down again. "Like anyone would believe Kimbo would ever hang around with that goofy blond-haired elf."

Ron's thumb twitched just enough to turn his embrace into a tickle – until an elbow gently prodded his mid-section, promising more where it came from if he didn't behave himself.

"Mmmm, I'm glad Mom and Dad are letting CJ sleep over tonight." Kim whispered.

"Why, Miss Possible, are you planning on doing something with your roommate? How scandalous." Ron responded, squeezing her midsection slightly.

"Only a lot. I just feel so held-back with CJ in the apartment with us."

"Kinda makes you feel for your parents, considering they had you so young."

"Oh, please, there's a mental image I really didn't need. Yep, there went the mood."

"Aw, man." Ron said, a little more loudly than they had been speaking.

About that time, Tim and Tam came in through the glass doors from the porch, letting a blast of cold air into the otherwise toasty room.

"Tim, couldn't you have gone through the kitchen door or something. I'm sick of freezing." Kim sat up and wrapped her arms around her chest, shivering slightly.

If there was one thing she was beginning to hate, it was being cold.

The entire flight back from the Canadian Rockies she spent huddled with both Sherry and Ron. It was clear that he was a bit uncomfortable being that close to her, but it was clearly necessary, since the heat in the flying car was just south of pathetic, and the other occupant was decidedly the only one with the skills in any shape to fly the thing. Needless to say, by the time Drakken dropped the two of them off at their apartment, she was a long, long way from warming back up. That job fell to Ron.

Fortunately, he did a very good job of doing just that. So good they almost forgot they would have to drive Amethyst home after her impromptu sleep-over.

"Just what were the two of you up to out there?" Kim shot her youngest (by six minutes) brother a sidelong glance. Then her eyes drifted over to his long-time girlfriend, looking for the 'tells.' However, her sweater was straight, her hair in generally good order and the little bit of makeup she had on was still intact. What she did notice was the slight dampness on both their knees. They had definitely been outside doing something in the snow, though it didn't seem to be anything intimate, at least that early in the evening.

Kim's eyebrow shot up. Her brothers making out (or more) with their girlfriends was one thing. Them being up to something else was infinitely more troubling. The only mollifying factor was that Jim was nowhere to be seen, and it was usually when the two of them were working in tandem that they got into their worst mischief.

Having steady girlfriends had de-dweebed the Tweebs.

"Uhhmmm."

Tim's hesitation sent far colder chills down Kim's spine than the blast of outdoor air had just done.

"What?" She asked dangerously. Even Ron was sitting up, though more to determine if Rufus had indeed taken his nog. The empty mug, and the fat mole rat snoozing happily in an empty bowl that had previously held cheese straws was testament to the fact he had.

Tam elbowed her boyfriend in the waist.

"Well, you know how the power company said we couldn't re-route the grid so we didn't knock out power to half the city?"

"Uh huh. Don't know who was more disappointed, you and Jim or Dad. So?"

"What Timmy is trying to say, Kim, we couldn't hook the lights up to the city power, so we had to find another power source."

"Oh, is that all?" Kim uncrossed her arms and got halfway back into her cozy position with her fiancé before her eyes snapped back fully open. "Wait, there isn't any other power supply like that around here? You and Jim haven't been fooling around with fusion experiments or something again?"

"Nothing like that. Besides, with our class load, we don't have time to build anything like that."

"That's a relief." Kim said, again starting to slip back into Ron's arms.

"…especially when there's already a perfectly good cold-fusion reactor close at hand."

Kim nodded. "Oh. Well, if that's the case, then I guess you should go help Dad finish putting up the lights." She smiled happily. So much of their Christmas Eve was based on tradition, and part of that was the lighting of the house, though her mother had pretty much shot down presenting a light show synchronized to loud music.

"Jim is out there helping him now. We just got the reactor hooked up, so they should be ready in just a few minutes."

"Spankin." Kim hopped to the edge of the couch, her mind fully awake, ready to start the festivities.

Tam grabbed her boyfriend's hand and pulled him toward the garage. Kim decided instead to watch the lighting from the big picture window in the living room. Ron's arms wrapped around her waist after they put on their protective goggles. His eyesight was getting a little worse, so the last thing he needed was to burn his corneas again like he had when they were younger, or that time when Señor Senior Junior stole the high-intensity neon lights.

"I thought you'd have been a little more upset, there, KP."

"So not the drama, baby. It's not like we're about to turn this side of town into a smoking crater."

"Not what I'm talking about, Kimila. Didn't you realize, there's only one cold-fusion reactor handy for them to hook up to?"

"Huh?" had she had more wine than she thought? No, it was only one glass, nursed over the course of an hour. Why wasn't she…?

…Kim suddenly recalled her brother's dismantling her first Kimmunicator to get to the Tri-Lithium power cells.

There was a reactor there. It was under the hood of her car!

"They didn't." She groaned, trying to look out on the street where her specially modified PT Cruiser was supposed to be parked. It finally occurred to her that it in fact was not parked at the curb. It had been her intention to leave space to let the Mini-van out later so some of them could drive around looking at Christmas lights.

Regardless of the fact she was only wearing jeans and a cow-neck sweater, with her shoes sitting on the floor in front of the sofa, Kim raced to the garage door and ran out into the cold.

There, sitting in front of the garage with its hood up, was her Cruiser. It didn't matter that the power-plant of her hyper-advanced 'hybrid' was supposed to be a secret, there it was, for all the world to see. Fortunately, the containment vessel wasn't clear glass like the prototype a certain rodent with a temporarily enhanced intellect had come up with. To the untrained eye, it looked like nothing more than any modern car engine. That is, it certainly didn't look like what most people thought it should look like.

"Kimmie-cub! You're just in time!" James proclaimed. He was holding the ends of an extremely heavy jumper cable, his hands swathed in thick gloves and his eyes already covered with his dark goggles.

"Daddy! My car!"

"No worries, Kimberly, I have it all worked out. It's just like hooking up the power pack for the toy trains I have set up around the tree." With that, he hooked one lead to the ground post of the simulated 'battery.'

She felt a large hand take hers and squeeze it tightly. Ron knew how much she loved her car. Just like his mother's old Pontiac, it had bourn witness to much of their relationship. She still held her breath as he hooked up the other lead.

At first, she thought the surge of brilliant light must have been a shower of sparks as every electronic component in the vehicle was destroyed by the power surge. No more satellite communications array, no more color shifting paint…

…more borrowing her mother's old van to do any more than walk to and from campus.

Instead, as her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized it was just the light display coming to life.

Slowly she let out her held breath.

* * *

Drakken sat in a chair across from the bed – her bed. He supposed that, in a funny sort of way it had become his bed as well, though at the moment he could just not bring himself to climb in there with her. During the whole flight back home, both she and Kim Possible had camped out on the heater of the hovercar, until they had sufficiently recovered enough they could lean back in their seats. The young redhead quickly cuddled up with the buffoon, claiming she still needed warming.

That should have bothered him, and in fact it did, but for reasons that surprised even him. Of the four of them, only Shego and himself were qualified to fly the hovercar. Just as that blond-haired moron had observed, the controls were not standard and even though she often boasted 'she can do anything' there wasn't time to teach Possible how to fly it, just so he could have time to cuddle with her.

He dropped the couple off at their apartment after Stoppable promised they would bring Amethyst home later in the morning rather than wake her up in the wee hours. That was perfectly fine with both of them, especially since Shego was still complaining about being so cold. There may have been some very pleasant changes in their relationship over the last few months, but she was still not openly affectionate with him. Yet, for a change, she wanted to be held by him. She didn't even complain that, when he brought her from that cave, he carried her as if she was weightless. Stoppable met his eyes as he emerged carrying Kim Possible in exactly the same way. A sort of silent communication passed between the two men, his former enemy softly smiling at him.

Yet, here he was, on Christmas Eve, sitting at the edge of the bed while the woman he had come to love slept. He should have been in the living room watching the television. Just like Stoppable, he wanted to watch the broadcast of his favorite holiday show, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so.

He had never seen Shego sleep so much, even when she was pregnant. That alone bothered him much more than he cared to admit, especially since she absolutely refused to see a doctor once they returned. She simply repeated, over and over that she was tired and needed to rest, regardless of the holidays.

Christmas really never meant too much to her, save for the fact it was when she always took a vacation, usually on some tropical island. That pretty much came to a halt once she was raising Amethyst, though he thought a warmer climate might do both mother and daughter a bit of good. As healthy as she was, the little girl had inherited her mother's pale complexion and both could stand a little bit of a tan.

He looked up as the figure on the bed stirred slightly. "So, Dr. D, you gonna go watch your show, or are you coming to bed?"

Drakken pursed his lips slightly, not quite sure what to make of the invitation. For the past couple nights he had returned to his own room, letting her sleep, even though they had become accustomed to sharing just one.

"I think I will watch the copy the buffoon gave me tomorrow some time."

Sherry put her head back down on the pillow, scrunching her eyes shut. "Suit yourself."

That certainly didn't sound promising. "Shego." He said quietly.

She sat up again, propping herself up on her elbows. "Listen, Doc, I know it's Christmas and all, but I'm not in the mood for some fun. Just wanted to know if you were ready to get some sleep yourself."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Shego. I'm not a young man and I'm not exactly ready to go at the drop of a hat at any rate. I just though we needed to talk about things…about us."

Groaning slightly, she sat up completely in the bed, pulling her sweatshirt down to her waist since it had ridden up slightly. "What about us?"

"Shego, are we…friends?"

The question seemed to take her slightly aback. "Yeah. You still seem to fall on the 'whack' side of things, but we're at least that."

"Am I your best friend?"

"What's bringing this on, Drakken? Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Not like either one of us has that many to begin with, if we even do have friends outside of this place."

"You seem to be getting very friendly with Possible."

"Oh, puh-leeze. As if. She's just one of the few people it's safe to talk to."

He nodded, shifting his weight slightly. "So, the two of you talked?"

"Yes, Drakken. We didn't have all that much to do at our little pajama party up north. What was I going to do, have a knock-down, drag-out with her just for old time's sake?"

"Then she knows about us?"

"Us? What is this us thing? Just because we…"

"Shego, like it or not, there is an 'us.' I don't know what that is, but it's there."

"Well…" She seemed like she had been caught in something for a moment. "I didn't tell her about…well, you and me so much. All she knows is I'm seeing somebody. Willing to bet she doesn't even have a clue it's you." She added softly.

If she meant that as a cut, it went right past him. "So we're seeing each other now?"

"Drakken, don't play word games with me. It's not your strong suit. Okay, we're friends, maybe best friends, if people like you and me can even have such a thing. Yeah, we fool around from time to time, and I don't mind you sleeping in here with me, 'specially since it reinforces Ammie thinking you're her father, now that she's getting old enough to notice some things."

"Oh." He said quietly, turning away for a moment.

"What's all this about, Dr. D?"

"Would it kill you to call me Drew sometimes?"

"No more than it would kill you to call me Sherry. Look, I used to call you Drew to needle you. I…I don't feel the urge to do that so much any more."

"Really?"

"Yeah…hey, don't read too much into that. Ever since you gave up on taking over the world you seem…smarter. More like a real person, that's all. You don't go around doing stupid stuff as much. Now, how about my name?"

He turned back and looked her in the eyes. "Because when I look at you, I don't think the name Sherry. All the years we've been together I've never called you that. Even when your skin turns back to normal, I look at you and all I see is Shego."

Sherry pulled her knees up to her chest, revealing that her legs were bare under the covers, though whether she had on shorts or just her underwear, he couldn't tell. "I used to think 'Shego' was dead and buried. That's why when you came back for me that time, I told you to call me by my real name."

"Is Shego any less real? Isn't a name you choose for yourself better than one you're given?"

"I don't know, Drak…Drew. I don't even know if Sherry is even my real name. That time I met my other self she was named Donna or something like that. What if that's the name my real mother was going to call me? Can you imagine me going around with people calling me 'Donna Marks'?"

"Marks?"

"I did a little digging. The woman who gave birth to me before she died was named Isabel Marks. That's all I know. My real birth certificate says 'baby girl Marks', no first name."

"Maybe if you don't know it, it's not yours anyway." He said. "I know you as Shego and I love you no matter what name you go by."

"What's in a name, they say, Doc. I…" She stopped, her eyes flying wide open, staring into space. "What did you just say?" She barely breathed.

"I said I know you as Shego."

"No, after that."

"I…" He froze up for half a second. "N…nothing. You're my best friend, so I have strong feelings for you."

"That's not how you said it. You said you love me no matter what name I use. You…love me?"

"Nyaargh, fine. Yes, Shego. I love you. There, it's said, it's out there. How do you think I feel about you? I know to you I'm just a handy male who happens to be good to your little girl, but I can't do those things without some kind of feeling attached to it."

"Whoa, hold on there. You're not just some 'handy male.' I'm not some little tramp who has to have it and I'm going to get it from whoever just happens to be around. I have feelings too, you know."

"That makes me feel a little better. I just know that you don't have the same kinds of feelings for me. I can accept that. I've seen you in love, even if it was with a dead man."

"Stop it, just…don't say another word about him. No, I don't have the same feelings for you I had for him, but I do have feelings. Yeah, sometimes I want to fire up and burn every last hair off your backside, but there is something there. I…just don't know exactly what that is."

"It's okay, Shego. I understand." He gave her hand a squeeze then got up. "Goodnight, I will see you in the morning. Oh, Possible and her stupid sidekick stopped by earlier and dropped off something for Ammie. I suppose you want to get up to see what 'Santa' brought her."

"Drew."

He stopped at the door and turned.

"God, I feel like such an idiot. Listen, when I was in that cave with Possible, I knew I was falling asleep, and I knew that if I did, that would be it. She was already long-gone and I was trying to fight it, but it wasn't working. Then, the next thing I know there's voices and the first thing I saw…well, the first thing was the flashlight you shined in my eyes, but the next thing I was able to see was you. In that moment, I knew you had come to save me, just like you saved me when all I wanted to do was run off and disappear for good.

"You are _not_ just a fling. You are not a 'handy male.' Honestly, I don't have a really good handle on exactly what I'm feeling for you, but I do know it's kinda like love. In know you wanted to hear something more than that, but that's what I've got for you. On top of that, I don't want you to say goodnight. I…I want you to hold me and say that to me again."

"Say what?"

"Say you love me, stupid! Gawd, you are so dense sometimes. I gave up on ever hearing somebody say that to me and mean it a long time ago."

He knew he really should have said it, right then and there, but all he could do was cross the gulf between him and the bed, taking her in his arms and just holding her silently for a long time. It wasn't until he could feel her tears soaking into the shoulder of his t-shirt he could open his mouth again."

"Shego, I love you."

"I know." She chuckled slightly, remembering the line from the old movie, wishing she could have simply replied that she loved him too.

Some time later, after he had gotten up to turn off the lights, he spoke again while they still simply held each other. "Shego…Sherry, would you like to get married?"

"Yeah. Go to sleep, Drakken. Drew Lipsky. Drewbie."

"Nyaargh! Only Mother calls me that!"

"Drakken?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

* * *

Amethyst Lipsky Stoppable sat on a rock near the edge of a bluff overlooking part of Middleton. Logically, she knew that, to her, it really wasn't Christmas. Back home, it was getting close to the end of summer. Time travel was funny that way. She wanted so badly to return, but knew that she couldn't, at least not quite yet. Her work there in the past, her past, was not quite done. Things that had gone wrong had to be set right.

Still, she couldn't escape the feeling of love that came with that particular night. It took years for her to really understand what had happened that night, just one door down from her parents. Being around, one more time for the night when the man she considered her one and only 'Daddy' proposed to her mother was just a happy coincidence. It really had nothing to do with her true aims.

Soon, very soon she would finish. Then she would be able to return to her own time, to her family and especially to her new husband. There was an especially important reason she wanted to complete her task and return.

To the world living in that first decade of the twenty-first century, it had been months since she stole the Multi-Phasic Portal Generator. To her, it had only been a couple weeks. Instead of waiting around, she was using her power to make small jumps, to important events that would allow her to repair the damage to the ether. Still, despite the powers she inherited from her natural father and the considerable might of her Mark 5 Load Super-Suit, she was still a human being and need to eat and sleep sometimes.

She rested a hand on her still-slim belly and sighed. It was almost over, and she had very important news, something she had only just learned during her journey through the past.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	32. Chapter 32

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 32**

* * *

Kim's eyes fluttered open to the morning light. It was not as bright as she would have first expected, so she quickly assumed it was still quite early and, having reached adulthood, getting some extra sleep on Christmas morning was far preferable to rushing downstairs to see what Santa had left for her and her brothers.

Scrunching her eyes shut once more, she settled a little deeper into her pillows. A pool of warmth at her back told her that Ron was right there with her, so all was right with the world. There was still the fact he was very likely to want to rush down those stairs himself once he woke up, so she lay still instead of rolling toward him to snuggle.

A stray thought occurred to her. The room really was brighter than it should be. Much brighter. Ever since they had moved into their apartment they would close the blinds and draw the curtains, partly because they often did not go right to sleep, but mostly because there was a nearby street light that shone directly into their bedroom at night. She had grown accustomed to sleeping in total darkness.

It was lighter in the room than if the shades had been completely drawn and the blinds rolled up from the window. Her eyes snapped open again, her mind trying to account for the considerable early-morning light she was seeing.

The first thing she noticed was that the ceiling was light blue instead of bumpy white stucco.

It was not sunny outside, but it was clearly morning. The amount of light was due to the fact that everything outside of the large, non-rectangular windows was covered utterly in white, with fine flurries of fresh snow still floating around in the air.

Kim let out a sigh. White Christmases were not all that uncommon, but it was still a very pretty sight.

With a slight start, she finally realized she was not in her bed. Nor was she in their bedroom. They weren't even in the spare room, where she had spent fewer nights in the few months since they moved out than she could count on one hand. They weren't in their apartment at all.

Thinking about running downstairs to witness the traditional family Christmas tableau was quite apt after all. She wasn't waking up in her apartment because they had spent the night sleeping in her old room.

Little snippets of half-remembered events filtered back through her still sleep-addled mind. Memories of her mother waking her from a comfortable slumber on the family couch to lead her upstairs as she had so many times before, of sitting there, glass in hand, listening to her family being…a family.

She let her head fall back on the pillow, staring at the sloping ceiling of the loft. The room was almost completely empty, save for a small table that had been borrowed from the den, which had in turn replaced the nightstand that now sat beside their queen-sized bed. The only other adornment in the room was the large air-mattress the two of them had slept on.

_I was either too exhausted, or I had a little more of that spankin wine than I thought._

Wine was not all that likely. The very few times she had too much to drink before had left very clear, and very unsavory effects the next morning. Instead she felt very well rested and quite comfortable, despite being only a few inches off the floor. It stood to reason, then, that her current sitch had come about simply because they stayed later than they intended and somebody, most likely her mother, had decided they were better off just spending the night instead of driving home for a few hours, then driving back again in the morning for the family breakfast.

A slight frown crossed her face. The big plan had been to go 'home' for the evening and spend some time with just Ron, with his sister staying over so they could have some real privacy. Everything was planned out with her usual care. The bed was fresh, she had candles set out and their music system had been programmed with plenty of soft, romantic tunes (including, of course, _their song_.) There were scented oils in the bathroom and a strategically placed sprig of mistletoe as well.

All of that careful preparation was sitting unused in an apartment on the other side of town.

Softly closing her eyes, she rolled over toward her man and draped an arm across his chest. Apparently, he was still wearing the white turtleneck he always wore under his venerable holiday sweater, which made sense with all the clothes of his that had once accumulated. She could feel him stir as her fingers gently kneaded his flesh. Technically it was still her room, though it was practically empty. They would have brought the furniture back already if it had not been for CJ living with them for a little while and even then they had been saving some of their money to buy their own furnishings for the room. Joss may have been working on her parents to let her take over the space, but that hadn't happened.

She cracked open her eyes, noting the wide grin spreading across his face as her hand went exploring, discovering that he had stripped down to the shirt and boxers before going to bed. Maybe he wasn't as out of it as she was. Then again, it was apparent she was dressed much the same way he was. It wouldn't take much to remedy that.

Just as she was about to take that particular action, her mind went back to the last summer, just before they got their apartment. They shared a motel room with her slightly younger cousin and very nearly put on a show for the young woman, thinking she was sound asleep in the other bed. A little note of caution made her consider her surroundings just a little bit further. Nana had taken over the guest room, where Joss had been living. That meant she would have to find another place to sleep, and that most def was not going to be in Jim and Tim's room. There was always the off-chance she might have gone off with Bobby for the night, being technically an adult, but it didn't hurt to check.

Sitting up, Kim scanned the room. Sure enough, sitting there on a smaller air mattress was a freckle-faced teenager, grinning like a particular kind of cat.

"I guess this is what ya mean by déjà vu, huh, Kim?" she said sweetly.

Joss barely managed to dodge the pillow hurled at her from across the room.

"Guess I really should go take me a shower now, so you two can have some privacy. You two are worse'n a couple a jack-rabbits with a bottle a blue pills."

"Huh, wha?" Ron said sleepily, sitting up in the temporary bed.

"Joss, I was just snuggling with him." Kim said weakly.

"Uh huh, sure, cousin. The kinda snugglin ya'll were doin' last summer. Now, lemme see, would that mean I should be expectin a second cousin, or a first cousin once removed. I can't quite recollect how that all works." She had to duck once more as Kim hurled her other pillow at her, rearming herself with one of Ron's.

"What time is it?" Ron propped himself up on his arms, yawning loudly. Kim almost panicked, expecting him to start scratching himself as he did most mornings, but somehow he managed to keep himself under control since they weren't waking up alone.

"It's just after seven, baby."

"Aw man." He let his body plop back down on the bed, burying his face in his remaining pillow. "Getting up before nine on Christmas break is beyond sick and wrong." He pulled the covers halfway up over his head as he curled himself tightly into his spot, much the same way as he had in his own bed the morning before.

Silently, Kim counted backwards from five. _Two, one…_

Ron bolted upright in the bed, grinning from ear-to-ear. "KP! It's Christmas!"

Heedless of the fact he was dressed only in a too-small shirt and a pair of _Snowman Hank_ boxers, he leapt from the bed and headed straight for the hatch. "Come on, KP! Christmas!" He had the door open and was heading down the stairs before she could do any more than pull her own portion of the covers back and start searching for her own clothing.

Joss hooked a thumb over her shoulder. "I thought he was Jewish or sumptin?"

Kim laughed softly as she spied a stack of neatly folded clothes. Her own dark slacks and sweater were nowhere to be seen, obviously having been collected by her mother. In their place were a pair of pants she had almost forgotten about, along with her old maroon sweater, which she could have sworn was back at their place. Just how much of her clothes were still here? "He is, but Christmas is just as important to him. Always has been."

"Ya'd think he was eight, tearin' off like that."

"Oh, he's still full of childlike wonder. That's what I love about him."

One of Joss' eyebrows shot up. "Thought it was what those funny shorts 'a his were full of."

"Joss!" Kim hissed. She slipped the tan cargos on, wishing she had the rest of the ensemble with her. The last time she had worn that particular pair of pants was their freshman year, when they had gone through a phase of dressing alike. At least there wasn't really anyone on campus who actually cared that she was wearing _Smarty Mart_ drawers. Considering the limited funds of many of the students, discount really was the new chic.

Unfortunately, the two remaining red jerseys were neatly folded in a drawer at home, and Ron's old tan pants had not survived to that day.

She looked up in time to see Ron appear back at the top of the stairs leading up into the room, his face flushed deeply red. His long-ago boast that nothing embarrassed him was clearly not the truth. Some things must get to him, else he wouldn't even have a shred of modesty. She smiled sweetly at him, guessing what that might have been.

"Nana is up already, isn't she?" She grinned at him after she pulled her sweated down over her head.

"Uh, yeah." He pointed at the stack of clothes her Mom had laid out for him. "Need pants." He added sheepishly.

Kim grabbed the older pair of gray cargos and held them out to him. It seemed the only clothes of his still around were an old set of his mission gear. The pants would be short, but they were plenty baggy enough for his adult frame.

He glanced over at Kim's cousin, who just sat there like she was enjoying the show. "Hey, it ain't nothin' I ain't seen before, or anybody else fer that matter."

"Oh, very funny. I'll have you know I haven't lost my pants since…well, since last summer."

"Yeah, I know, I was there, 'r'member? Sides, looks like there's somethin keepin' em up anyhow!"

This time, the pillow caught her blindside.

Ron stood there a moment, his finger in the air like he was about to say something, until he realized what the teen had said. Certain parts of his anatomy were indeed in 'morning' condition.

"Like I said, it' ain't like I ain't seen it before." She giggled.

"Joss!" Kim was almost out of ammunition, though she clutched Ron's sole remaining pillow.

"Hey, we've got some real horses there at the Lazy C. They ain't all cybertronic."

"Please, Joss. You're either going to give him a heart attack, or a really big head, and I so don't need him like that today."

"_Really big head_." She repeated, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Yeah, any kind of compli…JOSS!" the last pillow was launched across the room, though it didn't come any closer than the first two.

"I, uh, think I'd better go see if Mom P needs any help with breakfast." Ron said, hastily pulling on his sneakers as he stumbled down the steps.

"Yer the one who said it." Joss leaned back on her growing stack of pillows.

Kim slipped on her own tennis shoes, taking her time with the laces. "I think Uncle Slim should have sent you here years ago. I swear, Joss, sometimes…"

"You know I'm just joshin' with ya, Kim. Couldn't resist."

"But a little decorum…"

"Like the two a you gettin' ready to get it on?"

"I thought we were alone." Kim defended. "And this is my old room, you know."

"If these here walls could talk…" Joss propped her hands behind her head and looked at the ceiling. "Kim, you know, me an Bobby, we've been together for a while now."

She snorted slightly, and was immediately ashamed at herself for doing so. Still, she charged ahead with what she was thinking. "The two of you have broken up and gotten back together more than Bonnie and Brick did back in high school."

"Who are they?"

"Long story. It's just…well, I don't know…where are you going with this? You told me yourself that you two have 'taken it to the next level.'"

Joss looked back on her cousin, looking a lot more serious than she had earlier. "Yeah. I know Uncle Jim don't care much for it, but we've been…private about it. It's not like he's caught us or nothin, but I'm sure he figgers what we've been up to."

"Joss, I really don't know what to say, or what you even want me to say. You're eighteen, you're an intelligent young woman. I'm sure you're being…careful."

"See, that's the thing, Kim…"

Kim took a sharp breath. "You don't mean?"

"No, it ain't like that. We've been real careful. I'm just…we're just tired a bein' so careful all the time."

It was Kim's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I'm so sure you don't want to get pregnant."

"No, no, not at all. I don't even know if Bobby an I will last long enough to get to the point we'd think about anything, let alone havin youngens of our own."

Slowly the wheels clicked in Kim's head. "Oh, you mean you don't want _that_ kind of protection any more. It's real simple, Joss." Kim reached in her purse and pulled out a small vial containing three pills. "I'm actually surprised you haven't gotten these already."

"Well, it ain't like I've got a doctor for a mama."

Kim shook her head. "Mom gave these to me at first, but that was only for the couple months before she started taking me to an OB/GYN. Mom's a great doctor, but she's a neurosurgeon, and these aren't exactly her specialty. She started me off on the same prescription she used then and it turned out I needed something slightly different. I really don't see what's the big."

Joss sat up again in her bed, scrunching the bottom of her tank-top. For the first time, Kim realized her cousin was sleeping in one of her old lime colored shirts. "I, uh, I never been to one of them kinda doctors. Out there on the ranch, we only went to old Dr. Fields, and he's more a one a those docs that patches ya up when ya need a couple stitches. If I'd asked him for some a those, he'd a told Daddy faster than old Bessie head'n for her salt-lick."

"Okay, that's so not good, but we're not in Montana. I'm sure Mom would be glad to recommend a good doctor for you. Actually, Mom and I have the same one, and she's good."

"Spankin good?"

"I…wouldn't exactly use that term under these circumstances, but yeah, she's good, and the fact she's a 'she' doesn't weird Ron out any more than that sort of thing would anyway."

Joss giggled. "He get all funny on ya when you go?"

Kim shook her head. "I don't even discuss it with him. Ron, God bless him, is good enough to me that he'll go to the drug store and pick up my supplies, but when it comes to Doctor Foster…I just tell him I've got a doctor's appointment and leave it at that. He's not one of those kind of guys who likes girl-girl stuff, so he'd just think it's all…freaky."

"I bet."

"Joss, you mean to tell me you've never been to see that kind of doctor?"

"I haven't been to a doc in a couple' a years now. I ain't been sick or nothin', so if it ain't broke…"

"But you're a girl, there's just some things…what about your first time?"

Joss looked away. "I…don't like talkin' about it. Daddy was angrier than a bull at cuttin' time."

"No, I don't mean that, I mean…you know."

"Oh, that. Believe it or not, that started not long after that time you an Ron came to visit. I jus told Daddy an he took me to the store to get what I needed. He wasn't 'barrased about it or nothin, just like it was something he figgered he'd eventually have to deal with since I don't have a Mama."

Kim almost replied _That's good_ but caught herself. Joss had only been a small child when Jocelyn Possible passed away and sometimes it could be a touchy subject with her. "Anyway, why don't you sit down with Mom sometime, just the two of you. She's not going to judge you, and if you think Dad has figured out what you're up to, then she knows for certain. That I can guarantee you. I'm willing to bet she knows to the minute the first time Ron and I…got intimate. She's uncanny that way."

"Yeah, but Daddy sent me here to keep me out of trouble and all. What if she thinks doing that sorta thing is going against what he wants?"

"Then trust me. She'll tell you that straight up, but if I know her, if I know the way she thinks she'll see you for what you are, and that's an adult who is old enough to make her own decisions. You're also an adult who has already taken those steps, so it would be wise…no, ferociously smart for you to take other precautions."

Joss looked out the window at the slowly growing blizzard. "Yeah, guess you're right." She looked back at her cousin again. "So, if I wasn't sharin' the room with you this mornin?"

"If you weren't here? Honestly?"

"Yeah, straight up."

"We probably would have woke up everyone else in the house, and probably some of the neighbors." She added, blushing crimson.

"Spankin!" Joss grinned.

"No, not into that…yet."

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	33. Chapter 33

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 33**

* * *

Even for a family so firmly rooted in its traditions, things slowly changed from year to year. It was the natural course of things since the kids were getting older. Where once it had been perfectly appropriate for them all to come running down the stairs in their pajamas to see what treasures had magically appeared under the tree overnight, that simply wasn't appropriate any more. Ron had to be reminded of just that when he rushed downstairs earlier, though that reminder had come in the form of stern gazed leveled on him by two generations of Possible women.

None of that apparently mattered to Ron's little sister. Nor did the gentile festivities she found herself a part of. Neither Kim nor Ron could understand where she had gotten the notion that Ron's home shouldn't have a tree or other Christmas décor, but that mysterious mindset evaporated completely when she rushed into the family room wearing 'footie' pajamas, into the waiting arms of a very large stuffed animal that looked like a cross between a lion and a walrus, right down to huge soft tusks protruding from its mouth.

"Ron, has somebody been playing on online auctions without telling me?" Kim shot him a sidelong glance as the walked down the stairs hand-in-hand, Joss close behind.

"I don't know what you're talking about, KP." He responded smugly. "Besides, the big ones were second-run stuff, they don't cost anywhere near what some of the regular-sized ones do now."

"Uh huh. So, the guy going by 'Naco-King' on E-Auction who was bidding on that Super-Star Edition Pandaroo didn't happen to live a block away from Middleton College, would he?"

He grinned back at her. "That's the whole point to screen-names, KP. Besides, that would spoil the surprise, now wouldn't it?"

She gave his hand a good squeeze. "Honey, that thing sold for quite a bit of money. There were only…"

"Twelve made, I get it."

"Yes, and I told you before when you thought you could get that one that used to belong to DNAmy, even though it's a good investment, it's never going to mean as much to me as my original, plain Pandaroo."

"Why Future-Mrs. Stoppable, it sounds like you think everything is supposed to be about you. Like Bon-Bon used to say, 'Zero your ego, Kim.'" He said good-naturedly "Besides, Santa brought that for CJ."

Kim rolled her eyes heavenward. Maybe Ron didn't realize it, but she followed the auction with keen interest, especially when "Naco-King" appeared, his bid weathering a rather intense flurry of sniping attempts in the final seconds of the online auction. The final price wasn't beyond Ron's means, but it would take considerable chunk out of what he called his 'mad money,' or at least it better have come from his entertainment slush fund, and not from the account they paid their rent from. They pretty much had to rely on his allowance from his Naco royalties trust since neither of them actually had a job outside of being full-time students.

* * *

Sherry wasn't quite sure what to make of things that morning. Oh, what had transpired the night before was quite clear in her head. It might have been a sudden impulse on Drakken's behalf, but her answer at least wasn't. It was something she had come to terms with long before the question escaped his lips. True, she didn't have the same kind of feelings for him that she had for Ammie's father, nor would she likely ever, but she couldn't deny that, in some ways, she did love him. Halfway expecting that the proposal would come sooner or later, she sat down and puzzled out what she would say when he did. Knowing it was probably fruitless, she tried to apply logic and good sense to the decision.

Did she love him? Yes. Was it romantic love? Maybe. Did she like the physical stuff? Oh yeah. Drakken might have been a total buffoon in his own right when it came to trying to take over the world, but there were at least _some _things he was good at.

The deciding factor, however, came down to her daughter. Yes, it was a little selfish on her part, but she thought it would be best if she grew up with a father. So what if he hadn't been the one to actually contribute the genetic material to the little girl. DNA was, in her estimation, probably the smallest and least important factor in being a 'Daddy.' Drakken had all the rest. He loved the child certainly as much as if he really was he father. It was so strange seeing a self-described evil genius be so loving, so taken with the child.

If for no other reason than to provide a good father for Ammie, Sherry would have said yes. It was simply a bonus that she was developing her own strong attachment to him.

That didn't mean, though, that there weren't still things about him that bugged her…immensely. For one, she could take or leave the whole Christmas season. She was just too irreligious to be concerned with the true meaning of the season, and the secular aspect of it, with all the trees, the gifts, the merry-making…she simply wanted to get away from it. She even actively avoided going to the mall, or ever Smarty Mart from late November, on into January just to escape some chipper clerk offering her a Merry Christmas, or the more politically correct Happy Holidays. It got so bad at one point she almost snarled at the girl that she was Jewish, though she hadn't considered herself to be such since she was twelve.

Drakken, on the other hand, had taken a complete one-eighty from his earlier notion of the holiday. The same man who once erected a "Bah-Humbug" sign on his Caribbean lair now went whole-hog with the celebration. Even in their small home there was a large tree, decorated so much it was a wonder the floor didn't collapse under the weight. She gave him a terrible scowl when he dragged the pine into the house, though it was more because he had 'poached' it somewhere on Mt. Middleton rather than buying it on a lot in town.

She did allow herself a bit of smile when she saw how Ammie responded to Christmas though. Her adoptive parents were Reform Jews, but they always made it a point that Chanukah was going to be observed in their house, even though the five kids might not have been born as such. They even went so far as to hold her Bat Mitzvah when she turned twelve, as opposed to the more common modern practice of waiting until she was thirteen like with her older brother's Bar Mitzvah. It all made her wonder exactly what Ammie would grow up thinking of herself as. Drakken was easily as irreligious as she was and only seemed to keep with the more secular aspects of the holidays.

Still, it was great seeing Amethyst beaming with joy as she ripped into the presents arrayed beneath the tree. She bypassed the three-foot tall battery powered pony (which she hoped beyond hope Drakken hadn't somehow _enhanced_)

"Where'd that come from?" She asked, lounging on the couch and sipping the mimosa he made for her earlier.

Drakken was sitting cross-legged on the floor, assisting the doling out of gifts to the youngster. There were a couple boxes set aside for her to unwrap herself, but she decided to wait until she had seen everything her daughter had received first. He picked up the neatly wrapped box and checked the tag.

"Oh, Possible and the Buffoon dropped this off for Ammie yesterday. What? Should I run some scans on it, just to make sure it's safe for her."

Sherry took another long draught of the orange juice/sparkling wine mixture and considered. "I wouldn't put it past that creepy computer hacker kid to put some kind of tracking device in it, but I think it's okay, considering it's for Ammie. Let her open it."

He shrugged and passed it to her. A _Brittina_ doll, dressed in a rainbow colored swimsuit was tossed casually aside as she ripped into the new gift.

Sherry sat up, staring intently at what emerged from the box. "Is…that what I think it is?"

"It's rather ugly." Drakken observed, trying to figure out exactly what it was he was looking at.

"Oy, Doc, didn't you pay attention to any of that research you did on the Princess all those years ago? That's one of those creepy dolls like she used to play with, probably still does for all I know."

"But what is it?" He asked, trying to wrest it from the little girl's grasp."

"Mine!" Ammie squealed, hugging the black and tan creation to her chest. Almost immediately she put one of the ears in the mouth.

"How am I supposed to know? Ammie, dear, it's a doll, not a chew toy." She scolded. "You're probably going to have to look it up on that Amy woman's website."

"Urgh. No way. The less I have to think about that woman the better."

"Oh, come on now, Drakken. I remember how taken you were with her."

"Nyaargh! How many times do I have to tell you, Shego, I was merely trying to influence her to do my bidding. My tastes in women are more…svelte."

"They'd better be." Despite herself, she leaned over and gave him a little kiss on his forehead.

She still appreciated the irony that her daughter's favorite gift that morning had come from her former nemesis.

* * *

"Ronald, I think it's time I gave you some good advice on how to please Kimberly Anne."

A tray of gourmet cookies he had just pulled from the oven almost slipped out of his hands at the sudden pronouncement from Nana Possible. He had already had his fair share of embarrassment concerning Kim's oldest living relative, and it wasn't just the strange look she had given him when he appeared in the family room that morning in his underwear. Two days earlier they had gone to the airport to pick her up, and instead of heading directly to James and Anne's home, she insisted they first stop by the apartment. He was unsuccessful arguing that it was way out of their way, since the airport was on the other side of town from the college. She was bound and determined to see where here cherished grandchild was making her home those days.

Memories of the Christmas they had spent with her several years earlier flashed back to him. The moment they arrived, Ron made the mistake of putting his hand on Kim's hip. That in itself didn't seem too bad, but she had chosen that morning to put on one of her crop tops, meaning he was touching bare skin, the bare skin of her then eighteen year-old granddaughter. Not only was that a minor sticking point during that trip, but their sleeping arrangements took a sudden shift, despite the fact they were already engaged at that point. Not that he had any intention of doing anything with Kim in her grandmother's home, but an unmarried couple simply did not share beds like that. It simply wasn't done.

The problem with their apartment, though, was the fact there were only two bedrooms. The illusion they hoped to portray of their having separate rooms was ruined by the fact that CJ was living in what was supposed to be Kim's room. There was also the fact that the main bedroom had a comparatively large 'California' queen-sized bed, with all their clothes hanging in the same walk-in closet. There was no disguising the fact they almost never slept alone in the small apartment.

He wasn't sure if it was the fact they were twenty-one, or that Kim's father had prepared the elder Possible to the reality of their living sitch, but she seemed rather cool to the whole thing. In fact, she rather heartily approved of their neat little living space, lamenting the fact they didn't have a spare room to put her up in so she wouldn't displace her other grandchild.

Kim was ferociously glad they had spent the day before doing some tall-order cleaning and straightening, especially in their room. It wouldn't have done for the older woman to see the sheer white nightgown that Kim had left on the floor on her side of the bed two nights before.

Nana might have been down with the fact they had moved in together about a year before their planned wedding, but the last thing he expected to hear from her mouth was the statement she made in the kitchen as she did her part in preparing the light brunch the family would share, in expectation of the larger dinner later that day that would include his parents and the various and sundry significant others of the twins and Joss as well.

"I uh, well, we, uh, you see, I know…" He stammered, pulling at the collar of his shirt. The turtleneck he had on under the sweater seemed to grow several sizes too small, at least around his throat.

Nana might have been old-fashioned, but she wasn't naïve. She shot him a look that said _I know what you think you thought I was saying_ before she went on.

Frantically trying to get his jaw to work, he realized Nana was holding a rather large kitchen knife.

"Has Kimberly told you what one of her favorite things is? Of course she has, or the two of you wouldn't be getting married next summer, I'm sure."

"Kim's got a lot of favorite things." He tried calming himself by listing some of those in his head, though he was having a hard time separating it from the list included in the traditional holiday song by that name. He really wasn't exactly sure how she felt about whiskers on kittens, since the only 'pet' between the two of them had whiskers, but was not in the least related to anything of the feline persuasion.

The particular naked mole rat in question had been banished to the family room after threatening to devour all the cheese that was laid out on the holiday platters before anyone else could have any.

It suddenly dawned on Ron that Nana was talking about her cooking. "Oh, you mean the lemon squares. You taught KP how to make those when we were down to see you last."

Nana raised an eyebrow, setting the knife down on the counter. "How has she done making those?"

"She's…getting better." At least the last attempt she made didn't come out the consistency of roofing material, though it was questionable if there was any actual lemon surviving in it.

"God bless her, but I don't think cooking is ever going to be her strong suit. It's a good thing she has you, if she ever wants to put some meat on those skinny bones of hers. Well, I guess her mother is to blame in that department. How a woman that thin could bear three children…anyhow, that's not what I'm getting at. The lemon squares are not exactly a family secret, since I got the recipe off a package of flour some fifty years ago."

"O…kay." Ron scratched his head for a moment, they started freeing the cookies from the sheet with a spatula, transferring his creations to a festive colored plate.

"What was Kimberly looking forward to most that Christmas the two of you stayed with me?"

"Oh!' He smacked his forehead, recalling just how much her mouth was watering for some of Nana's homemade fried chicken. It literally was so good it spoiled her forever against the fare found in the many fast-food chains that served the southern classic. Kim literally would not eat that stuff. "You mean you want to teach me the secret recipe for your chicken?"

Nana reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a large baking hen, retrieving the knife so she could open the package. "Finally it sinks in. Yes, I'm going to tell you the big secret to making the perfect fried chicken."

Ron set aside his cookies, paying full attention to the older woman and she pulled the packaged innards from the hen. "First off, I always use a whole bird. Can't understand where some of these stores learned to cut a bird up. Besides, I think they use the sickly, small chickens for that. Kimberly Anne isn't the only one who needs some meat on her bones."

"Whole bird, check." That was already sound advice, especially considering that cooking _was_ his field of study.

"Then I always use Gold Band baking flour, sifted." She set the package out on the counter, taking a few minutes to hunt down the sifter. "A pinch of fresh black pepper – I'm glad Anne is sophisticated enough to have a proper grinder. Can't stand the pre-ground stuff – it's like saw dust."

"Got it." Again it was all good cooking technique. Nothing he couldn't handle. It was also starting to dawn on him there wasn't anything all that special about the recipe itself.

"These kids today, they like to shake things up in a plastic bag, but I think you can really coat the pieces really good using a proper paper bag." She pulled out a large grocery bag, though he had no idea where she had gotten it. Kim's Mom almost always came in the door with an armload of plastic bags from the store. He knew, having helped her bring them in on many occasions, especially when he was living there.

"Now, here's the real trick. I always use a fresh, new bottle of corn oil to cook it in. I don't like vegetable oil or peanut oil or any of those other things, just corn oil. Then comes a very special ingredient." From the fridge she produced a small cup.

Once again, Ron had to wonder exactly what was so different about Nana's chicken. He went to the same trouble she did when he made it himself, though Kim could always tell there was a slight difference. Of course, she always enjoyed when he made it. Still, he played along.

"I never would have thought about using bacon grease in the cooking oil. That's a good idea, Nana. Is that the big secret?"

She started cutting up the bird while Ron worked on the coating. Once she was done with the chicken, she washed her hands and cracked four eggs into a bowl, taking out all but one yolk before stirring them up thoroughly with a whisk. That, at least, was different. Ron used completely whole eggs.

"No, I haven't gotten to the secret yet. There's one thing all your college cooking classes haven't taught you, something you might not realize about the whole process."

"What is it? The cooking temperature? How deep the oil is? Do you deep-fry it, or just pan fry it and turn it?"

Nana shook her head and took the flour and spice filled bag from him, putting the cut up chicken inside before passing it back to him. "No. It turns out good either way, though deep-frying is a little quicker and easier. Now, shake the dickens out of that bag."

Ron did as he was told as she got out a second hen so there would be enough to go around with the large family. She brandished the knife once more as she prepared to cut it up. "The one secret to making Kimberly as happy as you're going to on your wedding night." She shot him a very knowing look at that last statement. "I made the chicken."

"Yeah, but what's the secret ingredient? Sea salt instead of regular salt? I don't get it."

"I just told you, Ronald. The secret is I made it. I don't think it would matter one little bit if I cooked it using the cheaper chicken, or some other brand of flour. In fact, I can't get Gold Band down in Florida, so I used what they had at the supermarket. What matters is that she knows I made it for her. Son, the secret ingredient is love."

He stood there with his mouth partially open for a few minutes. "So, what you're telling me is it doesn't matter how good I make it, she's still going to think yours is better?"

Nana wiped her hands off and put a hand on his shoulder. "No, Ronald. Well, yes, I think that may always make a difference, but now that you have the secret, you know that what you make for her is going to be good enough. I'm eighty five years old, and I know I'm not much longer for this earth. Oh, don't look so worried, I'm feeling as fine as somebody my age, who's been through what I have is going to feel. I have no intention of checking out any time soon, especially since I want to see my great-grandchildren." She nudged him in the ribs. Apparently there was more than one woman with Possible as a last name that wanted them to quickly move on to having children. "I think all I have to do is tell her that you've got the secret now, and that's all it will take. Like I told you, it's the love you put into it that matters, and the way you kids feel about each other, I bet what you make for her is going to surpass anything I can do."

"Nana, I don't know what to say?"

"Well, for starters you can tell me if that batch of chicken is coated so we can get the rest into the bag. We haven't got all day, you know."

He set the bag down on the counter and gently wrapped his arms around Nana, who patted him on the back lightly. "Now, get on out of here. This chicken _is_ going to be made by me. You can wow her with your skills back home, before you wow her in other ways."

Ron beat a path out of the kitchen as quickly as he could, not wanting to know exactly what Nana Possible considered 'wowing.'

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	34. Chapter 34

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 34**

* * *

It started innocently enough.

All it took was a single sneeze. Of course, there are all kinds of sneezes. There's the fitful sneezing one does when getting a face full of dust. There's the congested, runny sneeze that comes with hay fever.

For Ron, it was a simple, lone 'ah-chew' that signaled the start. There wasn't any congestion involved and apparently he hadn't been exposed to any dust, and, since it was January and the middle of winter, there wasn't any pollen to speak of, nor was the single non-human resident of their home prone to dander.

Kim's eyes shot wide at the sound as she sat in the middle of their couch studying a textbook. Their final semester was just getting underway and it was a good thing the weather had been cold and gray ever since the holidays since they literally had no free time to get out and enjoy the outdoors. It was pure sit inside and lament the fact they didn't have a fireplace weather.

Even Rufus, who was sacked out in an empty bowl that had, until very recently, still been filled with cereal-based party mix, perked up, squeaking "Hrk, oh no!"

"Ron?"

He stood there in the center of their den/living room, rubbing his nose. "Just a sneeze, KP, nothing to worry about. You know almost nothing can get past the 'Stoppable Fortress of Immunity!'"

"Ron." Kim narrowed her eyes at him, then arched one eyebrow.

"Hey, that bug was strong enough to jump from your brothers, to you and even Shego, who I've never heard of being sick before or since, by the way."

Kim crossed her arms. "That doesn't explain you getting sick our senior year of high school, or last year right after we got back from you-know-where. Face it, Ron, you're as human as the next guy. You're going to come down with colds every now and again."

Twitching his nose as if he was ready to set off on a serious sneezing jag, he went on. "It's not a cold, just a sneeze. I feel fine otherwise."

The coughing started within the hour. By the time it was getting seriously dark outside, Kim had him tucked into the bed, a box of tissues handy, as well as a tall glass of orange juice, though he complained it didn't taste right.

"It's just fine, Ronnie, you just can't smell it since you're so stopped up."

"What are you doing, KP?" He asked as she opened the chest at the foot of the bed, pulling out some extra blankets. "I'm already feeling a fever coming on, I don't need to get any hotter."

She smiled softly at him, hitching the covers up in her arms. "No, baby, these are for me. I'm going to pull the futon off the couch and sleep in the den until you're over this."

"Aw, man. Come on, KP, it's Friday night. We're supposed to go out, or at least have some fun right here."

Kim rolled her eyes. "You're in no condition for that, Mr. Romantic. Besides, I have a preliminary presentation for my final project next week, and I so don't need to catch this. It's just a cold, baby, in a couple days you won't be contagious any more and we can snuggle all you like. Now drink all that juice. The vitamin C will do you a world of good, and you need your fluids." She blew him a kiss as she opened the door. "If it's any consolation, Ronnie, I was looking forward to some RonShine myself."

"Well, there's another 'Booyah-denied'." Ron let his head fall back on his pillow, trying to sulk, though that only led to him blowing snot bubbles out of his nose. There had been a day when he would have been fascinated by the disgusting display of nasal waterworks, but as an adult who normally prided himself on just how healthy he usually was, it only served to make him more miserable.

"At least you're still around, buddy. I feel so crappy, I don't know if I can sleep, but by the same token, I feel so crappy I don't want to get up. Wanna play cheese doodle poker Rufus? Rufus? Hey, where are you?"

He let his head fall back on the pillow again, staring at the ceiling. The single light on his nightstand cast odd shadows as the mists from the vaporizer slowly wafted past the lamp.

Kim threw the bundle of covers on the end of the couch, then turned and plopped down hard on the large tan cushions. She was more than a little upset herself about the sitch. Ron's boasts really weren't as idle as she sometimes made them out to be. He really didn't get sick all that often and as a consequence, she wasn't accustomed to dealing with it. She was prone to having, on average, one mild cold each year, and, as they were currently experiencing, it almost always came after the holidays once the virus pool had been circulated around the whole country due to travelers.

Ron really hit the nail on the head about one thing, though. He wasn't the only one who had been looking forward to that night. It seemed that once again the old curse was descending on them. Every time they wanted a little romance, something came up. Over Christmas it was first dozing off and finding themselves spending the night in her parent's house, then the following night finding themselves pretty much snowed in there. A white Christmas was one thing, but a freaking blizzard?

At least by that point they knew better that they would be sharing a room with Joss, though the younger female Possible was rather late coming to bed after spending much of the evening on the phone with her equally stranded boyfriend.

For a moment she eyed the phone sitting in its charger on the end-table. That just hammered home how depressing the first days after the holidays could be. As the parties and family gatherings wound down, with the final blowout on New Years Eve, it seemed all they had to look forward too was week after week of cold weather, huge piles of school work and nothing much else. Of course, there was Valentine's day to attend to, if their course work allowed.

She thought about calling some friends. Only, she really hadn't made too many really close ones at school. Somehow they all seemed to be more acquaintances than real friends. It was also dawning on her that she really didn't know their neighbors all that well. The most she had spoken to any of them was when one of the cats that lived in the apartment two doors down from them tried going after Rufus. (the cat was fine, but never again wanted to leave its home, becoming a permanent indoor feline.)

Really, Kim wasn't being totally fair with herself about her friends. Ron had always been there, filling that part of her life. Yes, he got jealous when somebody else tried to step in, like when she first met Monique. Much as that tweaked her at the time, it took her a while to realize she did the same thing right back at him involving Felix.

No rationalizations really helped the fact that she was feeling kind of lonely sitting in the den. Part of her almost wished her nose would stop up and the coughing start. Really, with the two of them cooped up in the small apartment, with the amount of physical contact they had with each other, even if they hadn't had the chance for an extended evening of romance since before Christmas, it was entirely likely she had already been exposed and it would only be a matter of time before she was bed-ridden as well. But somehow it would be more comforting for them to be miserable together. The romance part would still be out of the question, but at least they would still be able to share a bed.

Even though it was only a little past seven, she pulled her shoes off and covered up on the couch. Just like back in the fall, she didn't like sleeping alone any more, despite the knowledge that her significant other was just down the hall in the bedroom. Not only that, but she had a notion it was going to take something drastic like heading down to the Middleton Space Center and climbing on board a certain sentient spacecraft for them to get some serious quality personal time alone.

Soft voices and music drifting from the other bedroom told her that her extended babysitting charge was indulging in her favorite pastime – watching the same program on her small television set over-and-over-and-over. CJ might have been all of three years old, but she could operate a DVD remote like a pro. When Kim was the same age she had trouble changing the channels on the family big-screen, though she did master it by the time she was five. That brought a small smile to her face. To that day the only DVD player that was ever in the elder Stoppable's home had been built into Ron's computer, a terminal that had been re-formatted and moved into his father's office since they didn't need two desktops in their apartment. It was very likely Gene had yet to learn to use that particular portion of the technology.

CJ loved her brother, but it was clear she was ready to go home. Not that she could blame the girl. Jean and Gene doted on the child and there was a world of difference between being with her real parents and her much older brother and his future wife. This was the time of her life she should have been bonding with them, especially with Pre-K just around the corner. It was bad enough that she was spending much of her time in daycare when the two of them had to be in class.

Fortunately, Gene was recovering very quickly from his surgery, to the point he was actually becoming restless, even though he was still a couple weeks away from returning to work. It was also a good thing that most of his duties could be performed right from his home-office, though his company was keeping him on medical leave so he wouldn't feel any kind of stress.

In a way she could sympathize with Ron's father. Sherry really had been right when she insisted the two of them take that mission before Christmas, even if it did mean they had to be rescued. Just sitting at home studying and attending class just wasn't her. Nor was it something Ron was adapting to very well. For all his bravado, he missed going on missions himself.

She felt a little trapped by the sitch. Every so often she would sit down and read the 'after-action' reports she insisted Joss and her brothers make. Some of the things they managed to get into added up after a while, pointing to what looked like a serious up-tick in the world of super-villainy. Drakken and Shego might have been pretty much out of the picture, but Dementor remained at large, as did Monkey Fist.

There also was the lingering threat about the MPG. It tweaked her to no end that the sitch hadn't been resolved. Usually, they had the bad guys all wrapped up and the stolen item back in the hands of its proper owners in short order. Instead months had dragged by with nothing but dead ends and a fuzzy image of a thief. The whole thing had become so quiet that Wade stopped giving them updates on it. There really wasn't a point, since they didn't have any new information. It was like the culprit had vanished into thin air, as if she didn't even exist.

Kim's mood hearkened back to the time when Ron spent the weekend gaming with Felix. It was Friday night again and she didn't have any prospects. She had all her coursework up to date and studying was pointless. All of her really close friends were a long distance a way and she really didn't feel like sitting there just talking to any one of them on the phone. Her local friends were all out on dates or with their families and for some reason sitting there reading a good book didn't interest her all that much. That left her mind on certain other things, things like what she would do if she were actively accepting missions.

Everything the thief had taken up to that point had something to do with either dimension warping, or dimension travel. To Kim, it seemed the best way to draw out their quarry was to actually lay a trap. The only problem was that course of action really didn't have all that good a track record with them. When they tried it with Motor Ed, Ron ended up captured and she had to go to New Jersey to rescue him. Then, when they attempted to capture the "Vigilante Ninja" they ended up getting their respective butts handed to them. If whoever was behind this was as good as she seemed, she would see the trap coming from a mile away.

It still grated ferociously on her that they couldn't run her down.

Putting her head down on the armrest of the couch, Kim stared at the television. In reality, it was a monitor, connected to their sophisticated computer system, so instead of a dark, gray screen, she was looking at a five-minute loop of a crackling fireplace. Yes, it was trite, but it did help the ambiance of their little place, even if it didn't fill the relatively cool room with its glowing warmth, nor make the place smell like burning hardwood.

Forcing her eyes closed, she tried imagining the place Ron was having built for them. It wasn't going to be ready until late the next summer, but part of the framework was already up. He took her there, but they really couldn't tell much about the unfinished framework. The plans, along with some basic artist renditions, told her more about the town home. The place was going to have no less than three fireplaces, a big formal one in the living room, an even larger, more rustic type in the den, but most importantly, there would be one in their bedroom. The floor plan showed how they could have a nice little sitting area right in front of it, where they could spend the evenings just sitting together, watching the wood burn down slowly, or not watching it, depending on what activities they could think of while they were there.

That took her mind back to the moment. Ron was in the other room, a fever just setting in, lying there miserable and alone. The little pink ball curled up at the other end of the couch told her that even Rufus had abandoned the sick-room, though he wasn't prone to catching human colds. Would it be so bad if she was with him? It wasn't like she wasn't going to get it herself. Oh, she could have Wade scan the apartment for the germ trail, but that was always after the fact. Chances were she already had it, and even if she did know what pathogens were flying around their flat, she'd freak out. If they were both going to be miserable, wouldn't it be better to be miserable together?

As if in answer, she felt a little twinge in her nose. Was it just a stray mote of dust, or perhaps just her mind playing tricks on her? Was she that simpatico with Ron that her brain could trick her body into thinking it was coming down with a cold?

None of those questions mattered as she sat up to let the insistent sneeze out with a distinctive, high pitched 'choo!'

Throwing the covers off, Kim rubbed her nose. That only made matters worse. Ron only had the one good sneeze before his head stuffed up and the coughing started. For her, colds took hold in her nose and tended to stay there, causing a constant ticking sensation.

As she sat there sneezing, she realized she did sound like a 'way freaky alarm.' It was a wonder Ron didn't come running out of the room, nose running, his forehead covered in sweat, worried that something horrible was happening to his beloved Kim.

Finally able to catch her breath, she sat back, scrunching her eyes closed.

"Oh, this is so not happening." She moaned, rubbing her eyes. _Careful what you wish for, Kimmie _she thought to herself. In hindsight, she knew that it had already been coming on. There was that odd feeling of foreboding, the faint telltale signs that something was wrong, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

A slight trickle of post-nasal drip crept down to her mouth and she knew if she went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, he nose would be as bright red as that certain lead reindeer's. She wanted to pound her forehead on their coffee table, but the headache was already starting to form.

Finally, after about an hour of sitting there, wishing it could be otherwise, she got up, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. Ron was probably sound asleep, or so miserable that he didn't want to move, but, as she thought earlier, misery loves company, so she waddled back to her room, hoping he wasn't so fevered they could snuggle up under the covers. It was a good thing they had already planned to flake on Temple the next morning, because Saturday was likely going to be spent totally indoors. It was very likely she was going to have to send CJ back over to her parents for a couple days, just to stave off having the small child come down with the same thing, if she wasn't already sick herself.

That thought made Kim grimace. Sending CJ to Mom and Dad meant calling Mom, and bless her heart, despite all her clinical knowledge, Doctor Anne Possible somehow thought she could cure the common cold. It wouldn't matter if she had a cranial bypass scheduled, she would be at her daughter's sick-bed within the hour of making the call.

What was worse, she would then have a captive audience, not only for her ministrations, but for the wedding planning, which was just about to kick into high gear.

Kim climbed into bed next to a bleary-eyed Ron, hoping they would wake up in the morning and all this would be gone.

If she could get to sleep at all. If either of them could!

"Choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo!"

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	35. Chapter 35

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 35**

* * *

Considering her usual line of work, Kim Possible was quite familiar with the term "Worst Case Scenario" and all its ramifications. It was perhaps about five in the morning when she finally admitted to herself that it was actually impossible to fall into a deep, restful sleep, even though she had been in bed since late in the eight o'clock hour the evening before.

If she covered up, she overheated, to the point her whole body was covered in sweat. If she threw off the covers, she quickly became too chilled. Many fruitless minutes were spent trying to find a happy medium, by sleeping under just the sheet, or just the blanket between the sheet and the comforter, with one leg out, her upper body exposed, or some combination of any of those. It seemed that if she had anything on her at all, she was burning up, yet moments after throwing the covers off, or even doffing the sweatshirt and pajama bottoms she had been wearing the night before, she was literally freezing.

Even in the pre-dawn darkness of their room, she nearly fell as dizziness claimed her as she got out of bed, even though she was quite careful not to get up too fast. Cutting flips out of the bed was completely out of the question. It was clear this particular cold was going to be a bad one, ferociously worse than the one when she went to stand guard over _Ray X_. If she didn't know any better, she would think it was actually a full-blown case of the flu, and not a garden variety cold. She shouldn't have been coming down with one. Her mother made sure the two of them got a dose of flu vaccine the moment it was available.

There was an odd sound coming from the bed. She touched the brass frame of her lamp two times, turning the light on just enough to see by. Ron, at least, was sound asleep. Kim frowned slightly at him as he slumbered. Technically speaking, it was very likely they had both been exposed to the bug at the same time, but out of tradition, since he had come down with symptoms first, he was officially at fault for giving it to her, a fact that he fever-addled mind latched onto, at least subconsciously.

He wasn't having the most restful sleep, though. The sound was definitely coming from him. At first she thought that Rufus might have decided to join them in bed as he often did after they were both asleep, especially once the weather turned cold. The little guy was willing to chance getting mashed by them in the mornings when one of them reached for the other, or at least turning even brighter pink at the thought of being around when he thought they needed privacy, all for the chance of sleeping in the once place where it was truly warm. There were plenty of nights when she would wake up in the wee hours and think of her lover lying there with her, only to spy a little pink shape sleeping right between them.

No, the sounds weren't coming from him. He knew better than to hang around when they were actually sick. They never knew when a virus would affect him as well and they had learned there was nothing so bad as a naked mole rat with a cold. As sick as humans got, he acted as if he was on his last legs the few times he actually got sick.

Despite her misery, Kim couldn't help but smile. Ron was breathing through his mouth, his tongue hanging partially out, but apparently his sinuses weren't completely blocked up. Every other breath a huge bubble would emerge from his nose, only to pop and sputter before he inhaled once more.

The smile faded quickly. That meant she was going to have to change the bed, no matter how bad she felt in light of day. Life went on, and if they just had colds then they were going to have to deal with it. Feeling like crap was not a good enough excuse for calling in sick. Many of her professors had grown used to her being in class every single session, unlike before when she would be constantly called away for one mission or another. It was clear they weren't going to be restarting their 'career' anytime over the final semester. Too many of her instructors were just like Doctor Snyder. The work was going to be done, no excuses. They were adults and they were the ones responsible for what they did. Life was unfair, just as their old teacher, Steve Barkin had always said. It seemed like a harsh lesson the big man had tried to impart on them, but it was the truth.

Then she remembered. It was Saturday. At least that was one piece of luck. No classes to miss, only Temple. Maybe if they felt better the next day they would make it up by going to her church instead. At one point, Rabbi Katz was used to them missing a number of services, though they had been pretty good over the last couple months since there were no missions to take them away. They only missed them when they went on one of their little weekend getaways, though that happened much less often since the main thing they would often accomplish there could happen in the comfort of their own home.

Kim rolled her eyes slightly as she made her way into their bathroom. Her reflection was just as it had been the night before, with the addition of dark circles under her eyes from lack of restful sleep. Her nose was blazing red, her hair was hanging limp and there was a bright sheen on her upper lip from what managed to leak out of her cute little proboscis.

_Think, Kim_ she told herself as she started the shower. There were responsibilities to be taken care of, beyond just herself. Her Mom was supposed to be off, so it was just a matter of calling her to come pick up CJ. She was running the risk of waking her up, but being a doctor she was fully accustomed to early hours. She was very much an early bird, often patrolling the house before anyone, including her, were up in the mornings.

Stripping out of her sweat-soaked night clothes she got into the shower, hoping the hot water and the steam would open her sinuses up, at least a little bit. That, at least, did make her feel a little bit better. Water certainly was a strange thing. That time she battled Shego with a cold she ended up drenched when the fire sprinklers came on, making that particular illness much worse than it really had any right to be. Yet, there in her home, in her own tub with the shower running it made her feel almost human again.

The only glitch was that once the shower was over, she was faced with drying off in the cold apartment. There were electric heaters in the two bedrooms, but the bathroom only had the steam from the water and a single small vent from the building's rather pathetic furnace to keep it warm, making her chilly long before she could completely towel off.

A fit of chills didn't help matters much.

She rooted through the hamper, searching for something warm to wear that wasn't too dirty or stinky rather than go back into the bedroom and disturbing Ron. Normally she would have just slipped on a terry bathrobe, but even that seemed like it wouldn't be enough. It was so cold she wanted to curl up in her heavy sweater, her old fleece ski-suit and a heavy parka.

If she were to meet the architect of the apartment building at that moment, she would have given him a top-ten countdown of her sixteen styles of kung-fu for not including a fireplace.

Kim forced her mind back to the matters at hand. When they put CJ down to sleep the night before, she had been perfectly healthy. Perhaps too healthy, since she wanted to stay up past her normal bedtime of eight o'clock. For a three-year-old, they little girl was awfully spirited. Spirited, willful, playful…to the point where she was ferociously ready to hand her back to her mother.

If anything, taking care of her since early December had hammered home the fact that they were a long way, a very long way from being ready to raise a child of their own, perhaps even to the point where they wouldn't even consider that until they hit thirty, and not their mid-twenties as they had always imagined before.

She had to fight down the urge to wake Ron. She wanted…no, she urgently needed some good, strong coffee. He was actually quite proud of the brew he produced for her, mostly using an old-fashioned style percolator, though sometimes he would go all-out, using a French press to make it. She was so not going to attempt using either one of those. One of the few kitchen devices she was confident about using was a normal drip coffee maker. How could she screw that up? Just pour some water in the back, fill up the filter and turn it on.

Kim was feeling bad enough that morning she almost forgot to put the pot back in it before turning it on.

She poured herself a monster mug of it and took a sip. It was certainly hot and, just as she wanted, very, very strong. Perhaps it was just as well that she couldn't taste it completely, since she was quite spoiled by Ron's java. Still, the caffeine in the hot liquid had its intended effect, making her feel at least a little better.

If only it didn't make her scratchy throat feel even worse.

Sitting down on the couch with her mug, she eyeballed the candy jar sitting on the side table. There were no cough drops in the apartment to sooth her throat, but perhaps she could substitute a piece of hard candy. There wasn't much to choose from in that regard, since both of them normally preferred chocolates and the like. With a little digging she finally came up with a red and white peppermint, setting it aside to suck on once she finished her coffee.

She took another long draught of the dark brew, trying to breath in a little bit of the steam. It sometimes scared her that, if certain people got their way, first all tobacco would be banned, then the same do-gooders would come after caffeine. She didn't know if she would even be able to function without it. Strange that somebody as straight-laced as her would actually depend so heavily on a chemical stimulant.

Finally screwing up her courage enough, she picked up the phone. The little LCD screen on it read just a little past five in the morning. _Well, better get this over with_.

She got the first six digits dialed when she realized she was dialing the main house phone. With a unit in almost every room of the home, that was going to wake up everyone…her Dad, Joss, the Tweebs…no, that just wasn't going to do. She cancelled the call and dialed up her mother's cell phone number. That, of course, ran the risk of waking her father as well, but there was always the chance it wouldn't, since he was accustomed to his wife getting calls at all hours anyway.

"Mom? I didn't wake you up, did I?...Oh, good…whoa, Mom, TMI, Okay. Sorry, I didn't want to disturb…no, I'm not. Ron and I both have colds…bad colds…no, at least she was okay last night…Ron's still asleep…no, I don't think we need to see the doctor, it's just a cold…Mom! We're not little babies, we just need to take it…no…no…okay, you don't need to threaten us with _that_ kind of thermometer. I know…Mom! You're not that kind of doctor…yes, I know you're still a doctor. Fine, you can take a look at us, I just wanted to know if you could take CJ for a couple…okay…see you in a few…No! I'm dressed, sorta, and so is he…I told you we were sick…bye."

She unwrapped the peppermint and stuck it in her mouth, sitting back on the couch and sulking. The doctor was on her way, there would be no escape.

Only a couple minutes later, she crunched the candy in frustration, not letting it have a chance to ease her scratchy throat.

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"I don't think anyone is going anywhere, any time soon." Anne held the thermometer up to the light, looking at it before shaking the mercury back down into its bulb. "The fever isn't that bad, but it's enough."

Kim stood in the doorway, an afghan wrapped around her shoulders. She'd drunk the entire pot of coffee without any real relief from the chills. The only real result she had gotten from downing the brew was to end up wired and feeling terrible all at the same time. Her body was screaming at her for rest while her mind was buzzing.

"It's just a cold." Kim said weakly, watching her mother use yet another highly sensitive medical instrument on her patient. She put the back of her hand on the forehead.

"This might be a cold, it might be the flu. There's no telling what you've been exposed to. Think about it, Kimmie. People are traveling all over the world, picking up all sorts of strange germs and spreading them to folks who haven't been exposed yet."

"So what are you saying, Mom, that people shouldn't get out and go see their fams on Christmas?"

Anne shook her head, smiling softly at her ailing child. "No, I'm not. The vast majority of travelers don't have any problem, and when it comes to colds, you literally never get the same one twice, so once you're over this, you should be fine. What I am saying is, outside of any classes you can't get out of, you need to stay home and stay in bed. That goes for all of you."

She turned back to the figure in the bed, pulling the covers up just slightly. Anne had been in that position many, many times in her life, sitting on that particular bed, or one of the two in the boy's room, trying to blend being a mother with being an MD. The fact that her current patient was technically not yet related to her didn't make a bit of difference.

Kim got a sinking feeling the moment she opened the door to let her mother in. In a moment when she thought she was going to get some relief, as the elder Possible was bearing a large Tupperware bowl full of homemade chicken soup, but all that came crashing down when she heard a distinctive sound coming from the hallway.

CJ was up, and she was coughing her tiny head off. Whatever they had been exposed to, it hit all three of them.

Despite having to endure a particularly thorough examination by her mother, Kim was really amazed. It took every bit of half an hour to get from her house to their apartment, yet she had gotten there inside of forty minutes. In that space of time, she had gotten dressed (Kim was still trying to rid her minds eye of the image her Mom had given her when she called about what had been going on over there,) had somehow produced a bowl of soup as if by magic, and had brought some assorted cold medicines as well. Not only that, but she had included some medicines suitable for a small child as well, meaning she either had an inkling they would be needed, or simply had them on hand for some strange reason. Considering nothing but two adults and three teens lived in the house, she could only guess.

Thankfully, the medicine had included a fresh bag of menthol/cherry cough drops. Kim was sucking on one as they spoke, still fighting down the urge to crunch it up like the peppermint.

"I think you need to go lie back down and take it easy, Kimmie. You're right, it seems like the three of you just have garden variety colds."

"I'm gonna be fine, Mom. I just don't feel much like lying in bed half the day."

"Kimmie, you're sick. This may just be a cold, but you are a human being. Just be thankful this is Saturday, and that it's not a summer cold."

"Ucch. Like that makes much of a difference. A cold's a cold. Besides, I've got a lot to do, especially since apparently now I've got a sick kid to take care of too."

Anne brushed back a few strands of CJ's blond hair. The little girl looked up with half-lidded chocolate brown eyes, obviously miserable. It was actually the first time she had ever been sick, not counting a bout of colic when she was an infant. "Yes, you do. I can't take her home, since that will expose everyone there to this. You certainly can't send her back home right now. The last thing Gene needs right now is to get sick, despite how well he's been doing after the surgery. For the moment, however, you need to be in bed. I see Ron has the right idea."

Kim snorted again, though it was more due to the mucus gumming up the works than trying to make a rude sound. "He's just using this as an excuse to lie around in bed. Really, Mom, I'm fine. Besides, aren't you exposing yourself right now?"

"Yes, but I'm a doctor, in case you haven't noticed." She gave Kim a knowing wink. "At least I have the sense not to touch my face when I'm around sick people and I wash my hands dozens of times every day, even when I'm not seeing patients. It also helps that I have a very high resistance to getting sick. You know, that's especially handy when you work in a hospital."

She let her brow furrow a little as she thought. It was indeed true that her mother never seemed to get sick. Yes, there were some colds, as well as some 'female' problems that seemed to occasionally plague both women, but she couldn't remember a time when her mother had literally been sick in bed – at least not since she was a small child. Even that had more to do with the difficulty of carrying twins than anything else.

Kim let that thought slip for the moment. The last thing she wanted to hear was her mother recounting the ten hours of labor she endured having her, or the long recovery from the c-section she had to deliver Jim and Tim. Her frown deepened when she remembered how her own doctor said such an operation would be wise when she had children, considering her small frame.

"For the moment, and I'm saying this as much as your doctor as your mother, what you need is to go get back in bed. It's only a little past seven, and it's not going to kill you to sleep in. I've already given CJ something to quiet her cough and there's enough to last several days. Get some rest, then heat up some soup in the microwave."

"Mom! There's too much to do. I've got to go to the market, I'm out of some stuff from _Bath and Body Factory, _I've got laundry to do…"

"Wow, I never would have imagined the day when Kim Possible actually had housework! Kim, let it be. The world isn't going to come to an end. It's just like when you gave up the hero business. The world didn't go to hell in a hand-basket overnight." She looked past her daughter, at the slightly messy living-room/den beyond her. "Taking a couple days off isn't going to make that much difference here, you know."

"I can't just sit around."

"Oh, really. Okay, if that's the way you're going to be, then I guess I have to rely on my nature as well. You can either go lie down and try to get some more sleep, or I'm going to load the three of you into the mini-van this minute and drive you down to the Medical Center. Inside of five minutes, I'll have a team together and I'll tell them: The patient is my daughter, Kim Possible. She's twenty-one, and a college student. She currently has a fever, nasal drip, a bad cough, diarrhea, problems breathing, high white blood count, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Get cultures for mucus, saliva, and urine. Find out what's she's been eating lately. Then get a CAT scan and an MRI. Then do the same for her fiancé and his sister."

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me!"

"But you can't! I'm a adult! I…I…"

"Kimmie, I'm still your mother. Not to mention I could just call the dean of students and tell him you're carrying a highly communicable infectious disease."

"It's a cold!" She protested, her eyes wide in terror.

"And what exactly is a cold?"

Kim pulled the afghan tighter around her shoulders. "Fine." She wandered back down the hall toward her room.

Anne tucked her daughter's future sister-in-law in once more and headed for the bathroom to wash her hands, smiling faintly to herself. Of course, she would never abuse her medical authority that way, at least as long as nobody's life depended on it, but she still knew how to push certain buttons with her child. It was always about control. Kim wanted it, or at least wanted the illusion she had it, so when it came to forcing her to do something for her own good, it was time to play the 'parent' card. Sure, she might be a young adult out on her own, but she was still her mother and there wasn't much she could do when she used her 'mother's voice of authority.' Age had nothing to do with it. That was the beauty of being the respected matriarch of a family that was about to grow.

After scrubbing her hands for what seemed like an eternity (being a surgeon, she had a very specific way of doing it.) She wandered about the apartment for a bit. She knew that once Kim had given in to her wishes, it amounted to her own mind being made up, so she was indeed back in bed, though only covered with the sheets. Anne nodded smugly, noting that her girl was already fast asleep, despite the seeming overdose of coffee she had in her.

_I know what's best for you, even if you don't know yourself_ she thought, gently closing the door. Kim would understand that when she became a mother, and it wouldn't be like her misguided attempts at improving Ron either.

Pouring herself a cup from the second pot of coffee, she sat down on a chair in the den and looked around. Despite how special her Kimmie was, the apartment really could have belonged to any couple in the world their age. Well, perhaps slightly older, since there were a few toys scattered about as well.

She took a sip of the brew, pulling a face. She looked down at the dark liquid and set it down on the table. How Kim could drink the stuff, she didn't have a clue.

With another look around, at the stray clothes, dirty plates and glasses scattered about, she sighed.

Then she got up and started cleaning up the apartment while the kids slept.

_The more things change, the more thing stay the same,_ she thought.

* * *

a/n - part of Anne's speech about the Medical Center come from a captioning thread over at Ron Stoppable dot net - also relating to Kim just having a cold. Oh, and summer colds are so ferociously worse than winter colds - with fever dreams and sweats!

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	36. Chapter 36

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 36**

* * *

Some people are put on this Earth who don't take very well to being sick. Some of them, like Kim, were that way because it was something in the way. They felt like they weren't living up to their own personal expectations and blamed their bodies for betraying them. They either wanted or needed to prove they could do everything they normally did, even at the expense of making themselves that much worse.

Others were simply so miserable they couldn't even function.

For Ron it was even worse because his usual boast of high resistance to illness really wasn't all that idle. He could count on one hand how many times he had felt that bad, and not all of those came because of a cold or flu. Then too, he had never really learned how to deal with such infirmity.

To say the cold hit him like a ton of bricks was putting it mildly. In the span of time between the first sneeze and Kim's shooing him to the bed he felt all of the strength go out of his body. Even with the horrible congestion, the headaches and the burgeoning fever, he quickly fell into a deep, exhausted sleep. It was one of those cases where he lay there for a time, thinking just how wasteful it was to lie in bed like that on a Friday night, especially since they were free and clear of any extra work for the weekend. It was a night they should have gone out, possibly eating at Pizza Shack, then going to a movie or dancing, just like they had tried to do on that night for the entirety of their relationship together, and many times even before that. Friday and Saturday were supposed to be 'date nights.'

None of that really mattered since his body was pretty much shutting down to allow him to fight the infection. He was feeling so poorly that he only had the energy to pick up the TV remote and hold it, not even touching the power button to turn on the smaller flat-screen Kim allowed him to set up in there. He just let his head fall back on the pillow, wondering if there was anything to watch that night.

One thing that did occupy his mind was whether Kim would catch his cold. There hadn't been much chance for romance over the last few nights, save for some nice moments just before they went to sleep, but that didn't matter. They were still very affectionate and since the room tended to be a bit on the cool side, they always slept cuddled up together, unlike the summer month when they would each stake out their own portion of the bed. If something had gotten through his 'Stoppable fortress of immunity' it was bound to get her as well.

He got his answer long after he had fallen into a deep, fever-dream addled sleep when he was awakened by her slipping under the covers with her and proceeding to spend most of the night repeatedly sneezing, leading him to make a few comments that he later hoped would just be put off as him being grumpy because of his illness.

At least she wasn't blaming him for giving her his cold. At least not yet.

Ron did manage to fall asleep again, but not as deeply as he had before. He remained on the edge of true slumber, all the while drifting in and out of strange, barely describable dreams that all seemed to incorporate feeling hot and wet, and never in a good way. At one point he thought Kim was trying to cuddle with him, seeking some form of comfort, but that just wasn't going to work. She was at least as hot and sweaty as he was and he found himself doing something that would be unthinkable under normal circumstance. He ended up pushing her away, then wrapping himself up in his portion of the covers. She didn't even wake him to take back her share of the comforter when he proceeded to mummify himself in it.

That all made him feel strange and awkward. He wanted her touch as much as she wanted his, but given how he was feeling he just couldn't stand it that night. That led him back to lying there, wishing they were out somewhere, maybe braving the cold January night holding hands in Middleton Park, or listening to bad 'artful' poetry at one of the funky coffee places that ringed the campus. Of course, even with his compromised ability to reason, he knew that wasn't nearly as pleasant as it seemed. The 'white Christmas' had been washed away by three days of nearly constant rain, with the temperature hovering in the mid-forties. It turned really cold again once the weather cleared up, freezing the ground at night but never quite letting everything dry out properly. A trip to the park would be an exercise in being too cold, not having anywhere to sit so they could snuggle and trade Eskimo kisses, and perhaps even running the risk of discovering a nice patch of black ice on a sidewalk somewhere. He had already broken his wrist once that way, almost precisely four years earlier.

He pondered that early, almost innocent time with her as he slipped back into his dreams. Familiar scenes mixed together in his subconscious, creating a dream-world that was oddly uncomfortable, in spite of the accustomed images.

Ron barely woke up when Kim's mother came to check on him. He wasn't even sure if that was real, or just another peculiar image his mind saw fit to dredge up as he lay in a pool of his own sweat in the bed.

Mrs Dr P. Mom P. Anne. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to call her. Mom was Mom, so calling her that just seemed…off. Kim had grown comfortable calling his parents by their first names, pretty much at their insistence, but he knew he really could never do that. Certain people would always be 'the adults' to him. James Possible was always going to be Mr Dr P, or just Dr P when it was just the two of them. Anne Possible was just going have to settle for Mom P, since she always corrected him when he tried calling her Mrs Dr P. He just couldn't bring himself to call her just 'Mom.'

It was pretty much the same as the fact that he would probably go to his grave calling his one-time teacher 'Mr Barkin,' no matter how old he got himself. It was partially respect, but mostly because calling the large man 'Steve' just seemed wrongsick.

Kim came back to bed for a little while, but that apparently didn't last any longer than it took for her mother to leave. That was just enough to remind him that certain other parts of his body were working like they were supposed to, especially with the amount of orange juice he had choked down since the night before. He took one step into the bathroom and stopped cold.

The room was…clean.

It wasn't that they lived like a couple of slobs, but some rather labor intensive jobs got pushed to the wayside. Things like scrubbing the tub until it gleamed white. The towels, which normally were stacked semi-folded on a small stainless steel wire shelf, were folded with almost mechanical precision, with two of them draped nicely over the towel rack. Their toiletries were arranged neatly on the counter and on the tank of the toilet. Even their toothbrushes, which normally resided in the soap-shaped indentation near the faucet were sitting in a stoneware cup. If it had been an earlier age, when such implements had narrow handles, they would have been put into the small rectangular slots on the higher soap dish (neither soap dish had been used since they had bottles of scented, antibacterial liquid soap instead.)

More alert than he had been earlier, he wandered out into the apartment. Kim was curled up on the couch, wrapped in the afghan, finally getting some restful sleep. If it had been any other sitch, he would have been a little bummed by that, since she normally professed an inability to sleep properly without him. He took a moment and just looked at her. Her hair needed brushing and her nose was still glistening, but she looked so peaceful resting there, the throw pillow scrunched under her head, almost hidden by the mass of her auburn hair.

As lovely as she looked to him like that, it was the apartment itself that had his full attention.

Ron had never learned neat, not in the way he dressed, nor in the way he lived. Almost every level surface had a tendency to get cluttered up with stuff, to the point it sometimes was hard to find a place to put a drink down. There were usually a couple sets of plates on the coffee table, with glasses, empty bottles and a couple cans sitting on the end tables. Books were often stacked haphazardly on their desk, with the only clear spot where the wireless mouse sat. The space under the coffee table was usually home to at least one pair of his sneakers.

Ever since they had been together, habits, both good and bad, had rubbed off on each other. Kim already had the habit of throwing both clean and dirty clothes on the floor, so it really wasn't that much of a reach that she would pick up on his more slovenly traits. Coupled with the fact they did spend an enormous amount of time on their studies, there really wasn't all that much time for housework. They mostly did just enough to get by like a pair of civilized adults, though they almost always had to resort to an intensive cleaning fest whenever they were expecting company.

All of that had changed.

Of his shoes, there was no sign. He always slipped them off sitting on the couch once they were home for the evening, one pair often joining the pair that had been left there the night before. Kim never complained, since she had long ago gotten his doctor to give him something truly effective for his toenail fungus. Somehow he suspected the shoes were not only in his room, but arranged very neatly in the cubby hole of their walk-in closet. The books were all sitting neatly on their shelf, the spines arranged so the titles were visible. The dishware was completely gone from the den/living-room and it wasn't in the sink either.

The place was clean. Not only clean looking, but clean smelling as well.

It didn't take him long to realize what had happened. Kim's mother had not only come to check on her sick children, she had cleaned. It was almost as if they were back living in Kim's house, a place that looked almost like a show home constantly because of Anne Possible's ministrations.

How long was he out?

He tried to check his watch, but he didn't have it on. The sun wasn't much help, since it had turned gray and overcast outside, matching much of the way he was actually still feeling. He finally had to go into the kitchen and look at the microwave.

It was three in the afternoon.

Ron still didn't feel all that well. Apparently his fever had broken, but he was left feeling incredibly drained and his head felt like it was twice its normal diameter. That was perhaps the worst of it. His father had to take eye drops to keep glaucoma in check, so as a precaution his doctor told him never to take decongestant tablets. That he was protecting his slightly weak eyesight was cold comfort with his nose stuffed up so bad. He wasn't coughing, so that left taking some aspirin and heading back to bed, a thought he didn't relish since he had been up long enough for the sweat-soaked sheets to get really cold.

Opening the fridge to get a glass of orange juice, he found the note.

_Kim_

_I've made up some light meals for the three of you. I'm sure Catherine Jean won't feel much like eating, but make sure she gets something down anyway. Get plenty of rest and don't forget your fluids. I'm going to come by this evening to check on you again, so don't forget what I told you about the Medical Center._

_Love Mom._

Ron pounded his forehead lightly on the edge of the fridge. He had utterly and completely forgotten his sister was with them, along with the fact that the note itself made it sound like she had the cold too. How could he forget about her like that? Sure, he wasn't the one experienced in babysitting small children, but she was his sister. What would happen if it was his own child?

Urk. That wasn't a thought he really wanted to have, at least not quite yet. As responsible as he had become over the last few years, that was a paradigm shift in his life he truly wasn't ready for, and neither was Kim. With the exception of the last month, at the end of the day CJ would go home with her parents, leaving the two of them alone, as things should be at that point in their lives. He had quite enough of the diaper changes and all that baby stuff when she was little, without having to do it constantly himself. Thank goodness he hadn't had to deal with the late-night feedings, her colic phase, or anything else except the few nights both of them stayed at his house while his parents were away during that period.

Ron had no illusions that he had a great deal more growing up to do.

About that moment he realized he could hear something. His ears were just as stopped up as his nose, so the sound didn't hit him at first, but he soon figured out it was singing…

…a child singing.

He took CJ's lunch from the fridge and warmed it a couple minutes in the microwave. He wanted some of the chicken soup Mom P had made for him as well, but somehow he knew his sister should come first. He carefully took her bowl and made his way to her room, fully expecting to see her lying in Kim's old bed, with the TV continuously playing that one DVD she watched over and over.

Ron's eyes flew open when he opened the door and spotted her.

CJ was still in the bed, or, more accurately, she was on it. Her Brittina Fantasy House was sitting there open, with several of her fashion dolls doing what a three-year-old would consider 'playing house.' The singing didn't come from the television, though it was on with the sound turned down. Instead, the little girl was softly singing to herself as she tried figuring out how to put a puffy pink camel-neck sweater on Brittina herself.

"I thought you were all sick there, squirt." He said, putting the tray down on the old round night stand from Kim's house. There in the cramped little extra bedroom he couldn't see the places where it had been glued back together from when Kim had smashed it after an especially bad spat between the two of them.

"I was. Docta Mom said I got a cold, but the angel made it all better." She finished getting the top onto the figure, though it still needed pants. "See, isn't Britty all pretty?"

"You should see the real one." Ron grimaced slightly. The pop singer was his age, but apparently had done more living in the last couple years than he could have imagined. It wasn't surprising, given her antics, that most of her wholesome 'girl-next-door' 'bubblegum princess' image had sloughed away. Still, there were plenty of little girls just like his sister who still idolized what the entertainer had once been. It helped that her doll continued looking just fifteen and didn't spend her nights carousing with no-talent pretty boys, or getting married not once, but twice in the span of one year.

"An angel made you better?"

"Yeah. She woke me up and told me I was a pretty little girl, then she did something with her hand and made me fall back to sleep. When I woke up, I was all better!"

Ron would have sighed if his head wasn't so clogged up. Maybe this cold wasn't going to be so bad after all. It did hit him pretty quickly, so perhaps it was one of those bugs that burned brightly for about twenty-four hours, then went away, leaving them just a tad weaker for their trouble. That would be good, since they both had a ton of work waiting for them Monday morning.

"You hungry, squirt?"

"Uh huh!" she scooted across the bed, grabbing the bowl and hungrily spooning the mushy noodles into her mouth."

Ron shook his head as he rinsed the empty bowl out in the kitchen sink. It was kind of funny thinking that an angel helped her out like that. It's certainly be badical if she was still hanging around and could give him and Kim some of that same help.

As it was, there was no getting around it. He still felt like crap. He woke Kim up and they shared the rest of the "Jewish Penicillin" (which was funny since it was made by a Lutheran raised as a Catholic – but still darn good.) They tried watching some afternoon movies, but they were both so wasted by their colds, they ended up going to bed right after Kim's Mom stopped by to check on them.

The fever hadn't completely broken, and he still had some rather vivid dreams.

* * *

Kim woke up smiling softly, though the dream she was having slipped deeply into her subconscious the moment she was fully awake. The smile didn't fade when she took a deep breath and realized she was doing it with her nose.

At first she thought the vaporizer her mother had set up in the room had done its job, but it had long ago shut off, having run out of water and it never seemed to help that much in the past. She sat up in bed and took another very deep breath, letting it out slowly.

It was only three in the morning, yet she felt as refreshed as if she had slept through the night until her usual hour of six.

She sat like that for many minutes, marveling at how much better she felt than when they finally lay down to sleep. It was almost as if…

…no, there hadn't been any angels wandering around their home, no matter what CJ prattled on about. It was just like Ron said as they heated up the last of the chicken soup for supper. It was just a short-term bug that rampaged through their systems for a day, then left to do its dirty work with some other poor unfortunate soul.

Turning her lamp on at its lowest setting, she looked over at Ron. He was lying on his back with his mouth open, but there were no bubbles forming in his nostrils any more. His arms and legs were splayed at haphazard angles, but that was pretty much how he slept on a regular basis. It was clear he was a good deal more comfortable than he had been the night before.

Maybe it was the early morning hours, or maybe just a slight aftereffect of the cold, but she was feeling a bit romantic. Friday and Saturday had passed without a chance for their traditional date nights, but if the cold had fled both of them, maybe something could be salvaged of the lost weekend. It was still clear that both of them could use a good shower, but they had been together long enough that it really didn't matter all that much. To her, 'Eau de Ron' could be as potent as any expensive cologne.

She nestled up against him, throwing an arm over his chest. She studied his face in the dim light for a while, playing with loose strands of his hair. Finally, dragging her fingernails lightly across his chest, she whispered in his ear.

"Ronnie, you awake?"

"MmmmHmmm." He moaned. She could tell from his breathing that her attentions had intruded on his slumber, but he just lay there for a while enjoying her attentions.

Snuggling closer, she sat up slightly. "How awake are you?"

"Awake enough." He rolled onto his side, facing her, wrapping his free arm around her waist.

There were no candles lit, or soft music playing, nor were either of them wearing any of the special nightwear they owned for such occasions, but it was everything both of them wanted. He was slow and gentle, as if there were some lingering weakness from their illnesses, but she somehow understood that wasn't really the case.

Afterwards, they curled up, much the same way they were before. Both of them were wide awake at that point, but neither much wanted to get up since it was still pretty cold outside of the bed.

"Maybe there's something to what CJ was saying this afternoon." He whispered, slowly dragging his fingertips across her shoulder.

"The angel thing? So not."

"So-so. Maybe there is somebody looking out for us. See, I was having this dream, and I was with this girl…"

Kim sat up with a slight start. "You're dreaming about some girl?"

"Nah, it wasn't like that. You know you're the only one I dream about like that."

"Uh huh. Go on, buster, what about this…girl?"

"Well, just like CJ said, it was like I woke up and she was there. She messed with my hair a little, just like you're doing now."

"You sure that wasn't just me doing that before you woke up?"

"Well, uh, maybe, but then she put her hand on my forehead and the fever-dreams just stopped. Next thing I knew, you were messing with my pajama top and I realized I could actually breath normal."

Kim let herself back down on the pillow, pulling the comforter up around both their shoulders. The afterglow, or 'deep sleep potion' as they sometimes called it, was starting to take effect. Rested as she had been earlier, she knew it was highly unlikely they would be heading to church in the morning. That was just fine with her, since CJ would gripe about going since she had decided she was one hundred percent Jewish, or as much as a three-year-old could grasp such a thing.

Sleep almost claimed her when her eyes snapped back open again. Being just on the cusp of slipping back into a dream brought the old one surging back into her mind.

"Oh my God." She gasped, sitting up quickly, not noticing the cold air on her bare back.

"What is it?" Ron put a hand on her leg, giving it a light squeeze. "You forget to take something yesterday morning?"

"No, uh, er, crap, I did, but that's not it."

He got up on his elbows. "So, round two?"

"Get your head in the game, Ron, I just realized something."

"What? It's double-coupon day at Smarty Mart?"

"No. I think I know who stole the MPG!"

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	37. Chapter 37

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 37**

* * *

"Hey, Stoppable, long time no see."

Ron looked up, noticing for the first time that the perpetual assistant manager of the older Bueno Nacho in Middleton was actually working the counter. In all the years the skinny twenty-something had been working there, he couldn't remember actually seeing the restaurant's full manager, to the point he wondered if there really was one. Well, there was Lars that time, but he didn't actually count that since Drakken's henchman had taken over under false pretenses.

"Hi, Ned. KP doesn't like me eating this stuff all that much any more."

"Man, that tanks. So, what'll it be? A Grande Diablo Platter, Mucho Caliente Cheesidillas or your usual Naco, Grande sized of course?"

Ron thought about it for a moment, scanning the menu board. In reality, he did get over there a couple times a week, but that was primarily takeout. The "Naco Man" promotions had run their course and sometimes he felt a little self-conscious about people seeing him getting his food for free. "No, just give me a Slurpster cup."

To say Ned was shocked was to say that he had a slightly nasal voice. "Somebody, call nine one-one, we've got a national emergency here."

"Oh, come on, it's not like I've never been in here that I didn't eat something."

Ned's head tilted slightly sideways, as if he was trying to figure out if it really was Ron Stoppable on the other side of the counter.

"What's wrong? You on the outs with Possible?"

That shocked him out of his reverie for a moment. The thought that anyone could think that something was wrong between them was a little strange. Sure, they did have their spats, but nothing had happened so dramatic as the ring incident several years before, and that had remained mostly private. To the world at large, they were the textbook fairytale couple. "No…well, it is about Kim. She's majorly tweaked about one of our missions, so I figured I'd come over here and sooth my soul a little. It's just, I don't feel much like eating right now. Guess I'm not as over that cold as I thought."

Ned handed him a cup that was just shy of being called a bucket, then motioned for one of his employees to take over the register.

"I thought the two of you were taking it easy with the missions."

"We are, at least until summer, I guess. I sure helps with our school work…well, my school work. There's just this one mission we started before we stopped, and she won't let it go."

The bespectacled restaurateur pulled a chair up to the end of Kim's and Ron's usual booth, sitting down backwards in it. "I thought your missions only lasted a couple days. Possible and you roll in and take out the bad guys, hopefully without wrecking the place." For emphasis he looked up at the ceiling. Bueno Nacho number 582 had seen its fair share of damage over the years, including having the whole sombrero shaped roof ripped off. "Granted, we could stand a remodel. Maybe you should talk to the guys at corporate."

Ron shook his head, leaning on one hand, stirring his Slurpster with the other. "That's part of the problem. This one's got her stumped, and it vexes her so. I dunno, Ned, sometimes I think…Ned, what if you had to stop working here because somebody you loved needed something?" He winced as the words left his mouth, not knowing if there was somebody in the slightly older man's life.

Ned just shrugged. "I'm taking courses at Lowerton Community College so I can eventually get my degree and make manager. I've still got time for that, and to do my job." Sensing Ron might be getting in too big a funk about his own school predicament, he decided to change the subject slightly.

"So what's the trouble with this mission? It doesn't involve burrito wrapping or something, does it?"

Ron shot him a glance. In six years Ned hadn't been able to let that go, even though he was the one who approved hiring Kim in the first place. "No, it doesn't involve burrito wrapping." He shot back, mimicking Ned's voice slightly. "It isn't even about her cooking…and not a word about the nacho cheese machine either." He cringed just thinking about the mess the two of them had to clean up when Kim quit, leaving the heating element on full.

"It's gotta be something. The last time I remember you sulking in here like this was right before you two got together. Ah, the days when you actually paid for your food."

"Hey, I earned every one of those free Nacos. Don't be dissin the Naco Man."

"I know, you saved the company, blah-blah-blah. Big deal. Do you know how much business I have to get in here to make up for what you spent a week?"

"Anyway, Kim woke up this morning and thought she had the case all figured out…"

* * *

_Earlier that morning…_

"I'm afraid you're not giving me much to go on." Wade said, furiously typing at his keyboard.

"There has to be something. Have you tried the security tapes?" Kim sat at her home computer, her back rigid in the small chair as her friend tried desperately to follow up on her sudden realization.

"Take a look for yourself." A window popped up on her screen, playing the black and white footage of the medical center's internal security cameras. "This is the best shot I got, and it looks to me like she must have know exactly where all the cameras were." It was true. Every time the woman was in the comparatively narrow field of vision of the security system, she subtly turned her head or kept the visor of her cap in the way, preventing her face from showing on the recordings.

There weren't all that many shots of the waiting area. If it had been the corridors, or one of the desks, there might have been a better shot, but none existed. He freezed what was perhaps the best shot. Kim was clearly visible there, talking to a woman wearing a baseball cap. The visor partially obscured her face, making it impossible to run much of his facial recognition software. Not that Wade didn't try with what they had. He simply could not get a match.

"That doesn't make any sense. What about her name?" It took her a while to remember it, since her mind really was on something else that day. It actually took Ron to realize her last name was Corazon when Kim said she remembered it meant "Heart" in Spanish.

Wade just shook his head. "Got to be an alias. It's not a common name, so I've ruled out anybody who is really named Amy Corazon. What's worse is they have no record of her arriving, or of her leaving. It's almost like she's a ghost."

Kim sat back in her seat growling slightly, pulling her robe tighter around her. She had already been up for over an hour, but all that time had been spent online with her computer guru, trying to sort out what she thought she had learned. Just like Ron and CJ, she had dreamed of a woman 'healing' her of her cold, but unlike them, she had seen that face before, only, in her dream, she had been wearing the same outfit the thief had worn in the blurry photos they had.

Was it just the aftereffects of the illness causing her mind to mix details? She didn't think so. Her dreams didn't seem to come to her like that. The image in her mind was as clear as if she had actually seen the woman, making her wonder if she actually had been there and had done something to them, then made them sleep once more.

Wade was pretty much able to dispel that notion. Much like the home she had grown up in, he pretty much had their apartment wired with a rather advanced security system, to the point she wondered exactly what he could see of them and when. He assured her that the internal sensors would only come on line when he turned them on, but there was no record of anyone breaking in or leaving. He quickly reassured her that any 'private' time was still perfectly that.

"If somebody was in there, they didn't come through any of the doors, or through the windows, and before you even ask, the heating and air-conditioning vents are almost too small for Rufus to get through, so she didn't come in that way."

Kim was actually seething with anger. There she had been, worried out of her mind about Ron's father, and the thief had been brazen enough to spy on them right there in the Medical Center. It didn't take much digging on Wade's part to prove she wasn't really there to see a relative. It was a very quiet day for the center, with the only major procedure being Gene Stoppable's quadruple bypass. There was no other relative there, leaving the only conclusion that she was there simply to keep and eye on her adversary – or perhaps hoping they would eventually realize it was her and rub it in that she remained at large.

"Kim, much as I hate to admit it, we're still running up against a brick wall here."

"I know. It just seems like it should count for something that I've actually seen her face."

"If it even was her face. If she's sophisticated enough to pull off these robberies, there's no telling what else she has in her bag of tricks. You weren't paying attention to her when you met, so if she…"

"She wasn't wearing a mask. Maybe a wig, I don't know. Her hair seemed awfully long, so that might be a possibility. I just wish we had a picture."

Wade shrugged. "Maybe we do. Have you got Ron's immersion helmet around?"

Kim's nose crinkled up. Ron had talked her into playing one of his video games, but she felt like she was swimming through mud the whole time she had it on since the game character was limited to the moves the original programmers had included. She was way beyond the character in terms of skill, so it was just an exercise in frustration for her. Add to that the fact she really didn't like playing video games all that much, except when it meant spending time having fun with Ron. Unfortunately, they only had the one helmet, and since they looked like the game characters, she found it just slightly creepy when they deviated from the script. Wade was working on a more natural interactive environment for them to play in, but he had other things on his mind, such as reinforcing the pressurized cabin on the Blue Fox Flyer so it could fly at much greater altitudes.

"Just bear with me, Kim. I've got some facial recognition software, and I might be able to interface it with the helmet. It would be just like you were sitting there with her."

"O…kay." She didn't have to look far, since Ron pretty much had to use it with their more powerful desk top computer anyway. Kim really didn't want to admit it to Wade, but she was a little frightened of the technology. She saw what the original had done to a lab rat, and though that glitch had been identified and corrected, she still didn't completely trust it.

"Wade, can you give me a moment, I feel a little funny doing this in my robe."

"Don't worry about it, Kim, just slip it on."

Biting her lower lip, she plugged it into a USB port and put the half-circle headpiece on. There was a moment of disorientation and double-vision, but in seconds she was in the cyber-world.

Once again, she had to wonder exactly how much detail Wade had on their life in the apartment. The simulation was perfect, right down to the half drunk cup of black coffee sitting on its coaster. In fact, the only detail that was different was the fact she was no longer wearing the fuzzy robe, but her standard mission gear. Somehow the helmet fooled her five senses to the point she actually felt like she had them on.

"Wade, we're going to have a little face-to-face chat about what you've got recorded. I'd say this is ferociously cool, but it's also a bit creepy, too."

He smiled at her. "Actually, the only thing you're seeing that's not real so far is what you have on. The filter is still letting you see the real world around you, it just adds details. It's a great thing if you want to have a meeting and somebody else can't be there. Just like this."

Suddenly Wade was right there, sitting on his fancy leather office chair, grinning at her.

"Freaking me out here, Wade." She nervously commented.

"No problem." His simulation vanished, replaced with the blurry, monochrome image of "Amy Corazon."

"So, what do I do? Is this like a police sketch artist?" Kim brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, not knowing if it was her own, unwashed hair, or part of the simulation. She tried putting it out of her mind that Wade apparently knew she usually wore a slightly snug sports-bra under her mission shirt. If he wasn't one of her dearest friends…

"Exactly like that. Just tell it what you saw, and the helmet will pick up on your responses and make adjustments."

"Okay. Don't care about her clothes." Even so, the image shifted and refined slightly, right down to the approximate level of fading on the woman's jeans. "Her hair is dark brown – darker than Dad's, but most def not black. Her eyes were blue…she didn't seem to have any makeup on, not that she's the type who needs any." Her teeth tightened just slightly. For years she had been covering up her very-faint freckles, which had darkened slightly a few years earlier after a couple sunburns.

"Her skin is a bit lighter. Not so much peach, more pinkish. No, whiter. That's it."

"You sure it wasn't the bad fluorescent lighting?" Wade prompted.

"No, she was really pale. Not sick looking, just very light, like a porcelain doll. She also had one lock of hair hanging over her nose, kinda like Shego's, but longer."

Wade was watching the image take shape on his own monitor. "If you ask me, she's starting to look a lot like Shego."

"We've been down this road before, Wade. She's definitely not Shego. Sherry's taller, but at least several inches. This woman was slightly shorter than me, and built a bit the same too, if I could tell anything from that sweatshirt she had on."

"That fits with the other shots we have of her. So, she looks a little like Shego, but more petite. I can see why we thought it was her to begin with…if that's her real face."

Kim nodded. "Like I said before, I think it is." She made a few more comments on the composite, finally giving Wade a thumbs up. "That's her, or at least as best I can remember."

"Hang on just a second." He touched a control, causing her clothing to morph into the skin-tight suit she was wearing in the older video.

"That looks about right, though in the dream it was brighter purple."

Wade furrowed his brow slightly. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that looks like one of Mego's outfits, that is, if Bonnie Rockwaller got a hold of it and a pair of scissors."

The thought of Bonnie in one of those purple body suits made Kim giggle slightly. "As if _she_ would ever wear that. You know, that outfit does look a lot like a super suit, though I'd never be caught out showing cleavage like that. If that suit wasn't as tight as it was, all she'd have to do is lean over and she'd give everyone a show."

"I'm sure she'd appreciate the fashion critique. Okay, I'm going to run the facial recognition software again, but in the mean time, I'm going to get ready for work. Your Dad has me computing the launch vectors for a deep space probe today."

She giggled once more. "Like you can't do that in your sleep. What's that, five minute work?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that. We're using some of our 'borrowed' technology to actually send a probe to a real black hole."

That caused a bit of a smile. "Don't tell Ron that, or he'll think Daddy will want to send him just for old time's sake, especially after what we did last night."

"Uh, on that note, I think I'll hit the shower before we drift too far into TMI territory."

"Thanks Wade…you know what you do."

"Later, Kim." The screen winked off, just as the helmet powered down. She was once again sitting in her bath robe and fuzzy slippers. Wade certainly was funny. One moment it seemed like he must have recordings of every intimate moment that had ever occurred between her and Ron, then the next he would get embarrassed about know that they had gotten romantic over night. Maybe she was reading too much into all the data his sensors could pick up. His reactions were just too real, to the point that if he actually did watch them…like that.

A slight sound coming from the kitchen caught her attention. It was somewhat brighter than she expected, so she checked the chronometer on her K-braclet.

She'd been up way more than an hour. It was almost lunch time.

The sounds were pretty easy to identify once she got close enough to see over the counter. CJ was up, though she was till in her pajamas. She had a bag of Bueno Nacho Chips-on-the-go open and was positioning the triangular bits of cornmeal on the end of a fork. Once set up, she smashed her tiny fist down on the tines, sending the tortilla sailing up into the air. It wasn't making that much of a mess, as a pink shape would sail through the air, catching the chips in his mouth long before they could hit the floor.

"Looks like somebody is really feeling better."

"Uh huh. Watch this." She stacked three of the chips on the fork, sending them flying. Rufus took long enough to twitch his tiny eyebrows before scurrying under the flying snack food, catching the last bit with a flourish."

"Maybe I should be glad he's eating that and not you. How's your boo-boo?"

CJ held up her elbow with pride. She'd slipped on a small patch of ice the day before, scraping it, and, in normal three-year-old fashion, she cried her eyes out, especially when Kim tried cleaning it, only to recover minutes later to start running about once more in what she would describe as a 'spirited' fashion.

"S'all better. It don even hurt no more."

Kim sat down in the chair beside her, examining the wound, or, more precisely, the smooth, unblemished skin on the child's arm.

That confused her. Sure, kids her age could display amazing recuperative abilities sometimes, but it had barely had time to scab over. Even so, there should have been some light scarring, perhaps some pinkness in the spot. Instead, it was like she had never even gotten scraped. She even went so far as to check the other elbow, just in case she had somehow forgotten which one was injured.

"Did you take the Band-Aid off, Catherine?"

The little girl looked at her strangely. "No, you said nevah to take em off myself, though it hurts when you do it." She scowled slightly, remembering the last one Kim had tried removing from the rambunctious toddler.

Turning away from the child, Kim opened the lower part of her robe, looking carefully at the place she had nicked her knee shaving two days earlier. Just like with CJ, the wound was completely gone.

"Have you seen your brother?" She asked, craning her neck to see as much of their apartment as she could from her vantage point.

"He said he was going to Bono Naco." She replied, with her usual mangling of the name.

Kim sat back in her seat, wishing for a fresh cup of coffee. Ron had cut himself shaving as well, something he actually did quite often, though she suspected he was trying to lobby for a beard by doing so.

She had touched his face quite a lot early that morning. It wasn't until then that she realized the tiny cut on his chin wasn't there any more.

That line of thought was cut short as CJ hopped off her chair, running after Rufus. Yes, the child was feeling much better.

Good enough she could take a bath.

_I'm so not ready for a child of my own_, Kim thought as she steeled herself for the battle to come.

* * *

"You sure about this, Ned? KP's the one who says she can do anything."

"Positive. If you ask me, Stoppable, I say you owe it to her."

"Yeah, but the last time things didn't exactly turn out like she planned."

Ned simply shrugged. "I've seen the two of you come out of much worse. You should just go for it. Hang on." He leaned back, shouting toward the empty counter. They were still in the lull between late breakfast and the lunch rush. "Clarice, bring us a couple of Grande sized Nacos, with plenty of Diablo sauce."

He looked back at Ron, who was almost watering at the mouth, despite his profession that he wasn't hungry.

"Okay, Ned. I'll do it. Don't know how I'll catch up later, but I'll somehow manage. I'll do anything for Kim."

The assistant manager stood up, hiking his already high pants. "That's the Stoppable I know." He took the oozing tex-mex creations and handed one to Ron."

"To Team Possible."

"Hear-hear." Ron held his Naco up in a mock-toast, before downing more than half of it in one gulp.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	38. Chapter 38

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 38**

* * *

"Mom, Ron is acting all weird."

Anne Possible looked up from the reports she had been skimming as Kim leaned on her desk with her elbows. First off, it was unusual enough for her daughter to actually visit her at the Medical Center unless it involved her father forcing the two of them to spend time together, or if one of them was hurt, and that pretty much involved the threat of force to get Kim to go anyway. Secondly, to have 'flaked' on an afternoon lecture was not at all like her, unless she had something critical to do otherwise, or had something really important on her mind."

"Is that weird as in weird for Ron, or we should alert Global Justice and perhaps the military weird?" She was hoping to draw her daughter out being slightly flip.

"Mom! We're talking about Ron here."

Indeed they were. The same Ron the younger redhead had once plainly dismissed as not being 'boyfriend' material, yet days later became in even more permanent part of her life. The same Ron who was every bit a son to her as the twins she had actually given birth to. "Yes, the same Ron who nearly took over the world using some of Dr Drakken's stuff, the same Ron who can turn an ordinary high school cafeteria into a gourmet restaurant, the same Ron whose other life-companion is a rodent that's supposed to be part of a hive-like community and be almost completely blind, but anyway, what is he doing that's so weird?"

"He's being all quiet lately."

Oh, that certainly explained everything. Ron, who was know from time to time to keep stuff bottled up inside him, who really didn't tend to babble _too_ much... Alert the presses, something is totally wrong with the world. Still, Kim was prone to having hunches and she needed to humor her, at least for a little bit. "…and you think he's hiding something from you. Let's see, it's the middle of January, so it's too early for him to be doing something special for Valentine's…"

Kim shook her head furiously. "We already decided, since we're getting married this year we're just going to have a private little celebration at home instead of doing anything fancy."

"Does that celebration include something from _Alexandria's Confession_?" Anne grinned at her oldest child. She knew that Ron would like it just as well if Kim showed up for bed in such naughty frocks, or an old fashioned nightshirt, but there was something to be said for getting something special for what was a rather special occasion. In fact, it had almost been a year since the two of them started…

Kim's glare brought her back from her brief daydream about a wedding and grandkids.

"Really, Kimmie, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, not after the time the two of you lived together at home. It's not like I'm going to run right out and tell your father if you happened to get the same…special thong I have…"

"Mom!" Kim shrieked, blushing a rather becoming shade of pink.

Anne grinned at her again, reading the signs that Kim actually did indeed own something of the sort. There was also the fact that, since her child was now an adult and on the verge of becoming a wife as well, she should learn to speak to her woman to woman. The time for raising a child was past and there was no reason the two women couldn't behave like 'girlfriends.'

"Kim, I think the best thing for you to do is relax. Let whatever it is he has up his sleeve happen. Given his past performances, I'm willing to bet it's something like that trip to Go City for Valentines…and this time you won't have to have separate bedrooms and you can do more than just peak at each other in your underwear."

"How did you?"

"I didn't…until just now. Really, Kimmie, you should know by now not to walk into that kind of trap. On the other hand, the two of you were on that train for hours and had to change clothes, so I figured there was some innocent look-but-no-touch going on, and he'd seen you in bathing suits skimpier than your regular undies by then."

"Honestly, Mom, I am a little worried about something."

"Really? What could possibly have you worried about Ron? His grades aren't slipping, are they?"

"No, or at least not that he's told me lately. He seemed pretty pleased with himself about the mock Presidential Dining presentation they did. But…it could be about his grades if he's thinking what I think he's thinking."

Anne closed the folder on her desk, signaling her child had her undivided attention.

"I know I've been a little bit of a pill lately, and believe me, I know why."

"Still missing the missions?"

Kim nodded, looking at the desktop instead of her mother's blue eyes.

"You're worried he's going to try and set something up? Wouldn't he be worried you would just have another mishap like right before Christmas?"

"Yes and no. See, I think the big thing that time was that I tried going it alone…well, with Sherry." Kim noticed a slight flicker in her mother's expression when she mentioned Shego. Even though she was, by specialty, a brain surgeon, she had remained the primary caregiver for the woman and her child, mainly because the 'retired' villainess had at one time thought the elder Possible was the only physician she could trust. For a moment she wondered if her mother had ever learned to trust the other woman herself.

"I just get this funny feeling, and believe me, I've learned my lesson about ignoring my feelings, but I think he may be planning something just like that, only this time he's going to go along so we'll feel like a team."

Anne smiled warmly. "Honestly, Kimmie, I think that would be a wonderful thing for the two of you to do together. It would be fun."

"Mom, it's not about fun, it's about helping people."

"Now Kimberly Anne, you mean to tell me that you went all these years just because it was all about helping and that it wasn't fun?"

She looked away nervously. "Well, yeah, it was fun, sometimes…most of the time. Except the parts where we ended up chained to a wall. That's not the point, though. I'm just afraid my Kimmunicator is going to beep," She held her wrist unit up for emphasis, " and Wade's going to be there telling me somebody needs help and Joss and the twins will be tied up someplace else and I'm the only one he has to turn to, all because Ron set it up that way."

Anne leaned back, steepling her hands. "What if that were to happen, and it wasn't Ron's doing? Joss is currently at Quantico doing some training, and the boys hopped in the flyer this morning even before school. Would you say no if somebody asked?"

"We've already had this conversation a bunch of times. The whole reason I quit was so Ron…so both of us could finish school up. We can help people a whole lot better with degrees under our belts."

"That still doesn't mean you wouldn't do it if it was a real emergency. That wouldn't be like you. Tell me, you read the rest of your team's after-action reports. Isn't it bothering you the things they are getting involved in, especially since you took yourself out?"

"I'm scared for them, yes." She admitted.

"I wasn't speaking about their safety. Yes, I feel concerned every time one of their Kimmunicators beep, especially since Jim and Tim are still seventeen, but I felt that way with you. I still would if you were still in it. What I'm talking about is how you feel. What did we tell you that Christmas Eve when Ron went on a mission without you?"

"That I knew what I had to do." She said in a near whisper.

"Exactly. Kimmie, you've taken the whole world on your shoulders. That's not something you can just turn on and off when you want to. I can see it in you too. You feel like you're letting the world down every time they get a call and you're not the one hitching a ride somewhere. If I can see it, Ron can too."

"But we talked about just that, a lot. You thought it was a good idea too, you know."

"Yes. That doesn't mean there won't be consequences, and one of those is that you have to live with that decision, with both the good and the bad. Honey, it's really just as simple as Ron caring about you and wanting to do what he thinks is right."

"That's part of the problem, Mom. Ron, when you get right down to it, will do something he thinks is right even if it hurts him, and I can't have him doing that, not any more."

Anne's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're sounding dangerously close to something you said in our kitchen when that French fellow was cutting his hair."

Curiously, Kim made just about the same noise she did then. "So not. This is a decision we made together, not some big thing I just went and made him do."

Anne shook her head. "Kim, no matter what you think, no matter how much the two of you seem like one person, you still have the first twelve years to set how the two of you act toward one another. Face it, honey, you will always be the one in charge."

"Are you saying that he agreed because I'm still 'the boss?'" She whined.

"Yes." Her mother said simply. "There's nothing wrong with that, it's just who you are. You've always been a 'type A' personality and Ron's…not."

"So, no matter how much we talk about things together, he's always going to do what I say? That's ferociously wrong."

"I'm just calling it as I see it. Kim, you did the right thing, both in what you wanted to do and how you went about doing it, but when push comes to shove I think your way will win out more than his."

Kim wasn't exactly sure she was being swayed. "If that were true, then he wouldn't be doing this in the first place."

"That is, Kimmie, assuming that's what he has in mind at all. You know what they say about assumptions. Ron is still Ron, and as random as he's capable of being, maybe it is something as simple as him planning a special trip for the two of you."

"My gut tells me different." Kim said softly.

"And you listen to your gut. I got that part. If you want my advice…" She held up her hand as Kim started to speak. "Don't start about how my advice runs sometimes. That whole snowstorm ordeal when you were still in high school was a fluke."

Kim settled back down in her chair, having been about to bring the very thing up.

"I somehow think your career as a 'teen hero' might have been on its way out when you hit twenty, and not simply because you weren't technically a teen any more. It's all part and parcel of growing up, and trust me, hitting that magical number of eighteen or even twenty-one doesn't automatically mean you're grown up. Trust me, your Father is staring down fifty and he sometimes needs to do a little maturing."

"If I'm not grown up, then why are we living in our own place?" Kim asked quietly.

"I didn't say you weren't ready for that. On the contrary, you've done remarkably well in that regard. Granted, I'd like to see you two in a bigger place, but it seems Ron is taking care of that quite nicely. What I'm trying to say is that you've taken a course of responsibility for yourself, one that I think would have been sorely neglected if you had stayed on the path. You just need to realize, it's never going to stop now. In a few months you're going to graduate. Not long after that, you're getting married. Unless you've changed your mind, you're going to be going to graduate school after that and perhaps looking at a job for yourself, no matter how much money Ron's bringing to the table. There's also the chance, given the way you two have been going at it over the last year that I may get a certain wish before I turn fifty myself."

"Mom!"

"I'm not saying it's going to happen, just that it can. The only perfect form of birth control is something I don't see the two of you doing any more. I have to live with that possibility myself, or I'm going to be in the same boat as Jean having a child in my late forties."

"We are so not going to have a discussion about me getting pregnant. You said it yourself, I've got some growing up to do, and I've got a whole lot before I'm going to be changing anyone's diapers. I went through that enough when CJ was smaller."

"Oh, by the way, how is it now that she's gone home to Gene and Jean?" Anne arched an eyebrow, smiling wryly at Kim.

"Like it's too quiet or something."

"I bet it's not quiet when you two get to be alone at night, and I'm sure the couch is getting a nice workout again."

"Yeah, that was span…MOM!"

Anne leaned back over her desk, her eyes drifting down to Kim's exposed midriff.

"What are you doing?" she asked warily.

"Oh, nothing. Just looking to see if you'd put on a little more weight."

"I.AM.NOT. PREGNANT!" Kim growled. "What's that about 'more' weight?"

"Nothing, dear. You've just filled out slightly over the last couple years, that's all. Growing up stuff."

"Anyway, I know I'm not pregnant. I wouldn't be this tweaked right now if things weren't going perfectly according to schedule."

"I don't know. You can be awfully tweaked without PMSing. Plus, you admitted you forgot to take your meds when you were sick."

Kim threw up her hands. "Closed subject, Mother. In two days it's time for my monthly visitor and that's that."

"Oh, I think you'd make a fine mother. Well, Ron would. I get the impression you're really going to take after your father when it comes to kids."

"What, I'm going to threaten to send my daughter's boyfriends to a black hole if they screw up?"

"I was thinking more like you would scare them to death by taking over their soccer team." She smiled from ear to ear.

"Grrrr. That was six years ago. I've got my 'Kimness' under control."

"If you say so. Bottom line, Kimmie. What are you going to do if Ron does try to whip up a mission for the two of you?"

She slumped down again. "I don't know. I guess if it's for real we'll have to take it. I don't want that to happen."

"I think you do."

"No, Mom, I don't. Maybe if it's something simple, like a rescue mission or just a supply run or something, but it's been a long time since we went up against anything real."

"Those robots weren't real?"

"That was a few months ago. We're bound to be rusty by now, and we ended up getting our clocks cleaned too, even with the advanced suits. Still, when it's all said and done, I am so kicking his biscuit for doing that."

"Unless you have fun."

"Mom, I told you, it's not about the fun. Yeah, we do have fun sometimes, but that's beside the point."

Anne leaned back again, brushing her hands over the top of the folder sitting on her desk. "Tell you what. I don't have any procedures the rest of the afternoon, why don't the two of us drive over to the mall and get some smoothies?"

Kim actually lit up. "That's a great Idea, Mom! Dad used to say we don't spend enough time together…"

"Though I do have to check a couple of my patients. I'm sure the nurses can handle changing Mr. Splayman's bandages, but I do like to look in on it from time to time, maybe even make sure I can still put on a proper dressing."

She smiled very slightly again as Kim turned slightly green. It seemed the girl who could do anything actually couldn't keep her lunch down at the sight of a human being's innards, especially the brain. A fresh incision from that mornings cranial bypass was a little to close to that for her comfort. All the more reason her following her dream of International Diplomacy was a good choice for her. She had the brains and the hand/eye coordination to be a doctor, but there were other traits about her that led her mother to acknowledge she would never be happy at it and in all likelihood, wouldn't be all that great at it, no matter how strong her desire to succeed. Perhaps even because of it.

Sometimes, Anne C. Possible hated playing her daughter. This wasn't actually one of those times. There was something very important to her that had been pushed to the back burner too many times for her comfort lately. Sure, Kim was going to be royally torqued when the nature of the playing came to light.

The surprise she had up her sleeve was going to be a doozy, one that even Kim might like, if she ever got past being manipulated. For the moment, however, it was time to play.

The Ron problem worried her more than she cared to admit. Kim was probably right about being rusty. Sure, they had kept up their physical condition, but no amount of training in the world would help in a real world situation. It also worried her that it was something the boy would indeed try. Part of her was angry with him, if that was the case, since that would be taking _both_ of them into harm's way. Her kids may have been legal adults, but they were still her kids.

* * *

"Mom!" Kim growled as she realized they were turning off Main Street a few blocks too early for Middleton Mall.

"What is it, dear?"

She pointed out the windshield of the mini-van. "The mall is that way."

"Oh, I thought we'd try that new place, _Celestial Smoothies_. They even have a strawberry and peach flavored drink with vitamins and minerals specifically for women."

Kim snorted slightly. "I take a multivitamin every morning. That's just hype so they can charge almost twice what they do at _Tangerine Julian's_ for one."

Anne's grin split her face. She thought the moment she made the turn Kim would realize they were going back to a particular office in that part of town. It did help that the smoothie place was right across the street.

Kim's eyes suddenly snapped open as she recognized the slightly victorious look on her mother. "No way! You're not thinking of taking me to that dress lady again, are you?"

"Kimberly Anne Possible, we're less than six months away from your wedding now, and she's got some lovely dresses for you to try on."

"Mom, those dresses are so last season. If you even for a moment think I'd consider that short thing."

"Oh, what's wrong with it? It's longer than that little black dress you like to wear."

"That dress is for impressing Ron."

"So's your wedding dress. Besides, how can a dress be 'last season?' Certain things never go out of style."

"Hello, Earth to Mom. I don't read fashion magazines just to pass the time."

"Oh, and here I thought you bought them for the articles on '_Fifty Ways to Please Him_.'"

"I don't read _that_ kind of magazine, I just like being current."

Anne glanced over at her. She liked to glance at the periodicals from time to time, and even the most 'innocent' of them always tended to have just such articles in them, among the repeated ads featuring models skinnier than either woman, which was saying something considering she was something of a beanpole herself. Then she wondered if she was dropping too much of a hint defending the classic designs.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a 'Princess' style dress. It's bound to be a big wedding, so a nice, long train would be perfect."

"If you like dragging that sort of thing down the aisle." She turned and looked out the window at nothing in particular. "I just wish I could fit in your dress or something." She muttered.

She kept her eyes firmly on the road ahead of them, spying the office park where the designer kept her offices. She remembered when a certain thirteen year-old had gotten in the attic and tried the dress on, right over her tank top and capris. Then Kim had been just a little slip of a girl and the only problems with the fit were the drooping bodice and the fact she was almost a foot too short to wear it. The bodice was still a bit too big, but the younger woman's muscular legs and hips would stretch it to the limit without major alterations.

Hoping to switch her daughter's mind off the dress, she changed the subject, only slightly. "Have you given any consideration to what you're going to have your bridesmaids wear? Or, for that matter, who besides Monique you're going to have?"

"I'm working on it. I think I'll have Mon pick something out. That way they won't be saddled with something horrible. I hate how most of those dresses look and I've got nightmares about when I get called on to wear one myself."

"It's coming, sweetheart. Didn't your friend Tara get engaged last fall?"

"Yeah."

They turned into the parking lot. All she had to do was get Kim to try on some dresses, then the seamstress would have something to go by, therefore keeping the surprise until it was really time for it to be revealed. Anne Possible was truly going to take the 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' bit to heart.

Kim was just reaching for the door handle when her bracelet lit up.

_Beep-Beep-De-Beep!_

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	39. Chapter 39

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 39**

* * *

Kim looked over at her mother, who was wearing the most peculiar smile, almost as if…

She banished that thought from her mind as she touched the receive button on her Mark 3 Kimmunicator. Old habits that several months could not undo instantly sprang to life.

"Go, Wade."

"Sorry to bother you, Kim, but…"

"Something's come up and the rest of the team isn't available, right?" She cut him off instantly.

Wade rubbed the back of his neck. He should have been used to her finishing his sentences that way, but he still looked a tad nervous about something. "Uh, well, yeah. How did you know?"

"Just a good guess. As long as I'm guessing, I'm willing to bet you've been talking to Ron, haven't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I haven't, at least not over the last couple days. He's okay, isn't he. Well, I'd probably know if he wasn't, since the telemetry from your tracking chips is functioning normally…"

Kim let out a slight sigh. "Okay, so, what's up, you're cutting into some quality mother/daughter time here."

"You wanted to be kept in the loop if we found anything out about your mystery woman."

That certainly peaked her interest. Somehow his protest that he hadn't been talking to Ron didn't ring totally true, but the call at least was something she had been wanting, if not totally expecting given the brick wall they had seemingly been running into on all fronts.

"I've been running the facial recognition software on the composite we put together the other day. So far I haven't gotten any hits. The computer still thinks she's an eighty percent match for Shego, but…"

She shook her head. "Most def not her. This woman does look a little like her, but she's got a smaller build overall – more like me, but a little shorter."

"That's why I'm not even considering it to be her. My theory is, though, she might be an unknown relative of hers. We really don't have much on her birth-family, so it's possible she could even have a sister we don't know about."

"I don't think so. This woman is, well, she seems younger than Sherry, and her mother died in childbirth. Her father died in the accident that put her in the hospital in the first place."

"That doesn't rule out cousins, but that's not what I was calling about. I've been going over the memory cores of the Bebe robots you took down not long ago. It's been a tough go of it since I didn't want their master programming to take over my equipment. I managed to construct a virtual Bebe on an isolated mainframe."

"Wade, cut to the chase, in regular English, please and thank you."

"It's still not much, but I did get this." He touched a control and a holographic image sprang to life.

"Haven't we seen this before?" Kim examined the shot. It was of the woman, her face covered with a hood that was remarkably similar to the hoods of their current super-suits, only from the new angle it was clear she had a long pony-tail sticking out the back of it.

"It's from the same moment of that old image we got from Dr. Porter's lab, only this time it's not the reflection on the Bebe's shell, but an image taken directly from their memory. In other words, it's as close to a first-hand picture of the woman as we've gotten.

"The uniform definitely is reminiscent of Shego's old jumpsuit, though a good deal more revealing." She commented, tilting her head at the hovering image.

"Not only that, but adjusting for the spectral shifts in the Bebe's optical processors, I found out the costume is exactly the same shade of purple as Mego's Team Go uniform."

"So she's either connected to the Godfrey's or mimicking them for some reason."

"If she was trying to implicate Shego, wouldn't she do a better job wearing green?" Anne suggested, setting the parking brake of the mini-van.

"Another reason I'm leaning toward somebody in the family." Wade said.

"So this is just an FYI. You sure you don't have a mission for me and Ron?" Kim asked, actually starting to feel a little disappointed.

Wade just cocked an eyebrow at her. "I thought you were on a leave of absence? All the calls are being routed to your brothers and Joss."

"But they're tied up at the moment…" Kim prompted.

"Yes, but they've got things under control at the moment, and if something really dangerous pops up I can always direct it to GJ or state and local authorities.

Kim sighed a little more heavily. Somehow she thought she would have been tweaked by being called on a mission, even if it was something Ron had arranged just to make her feel better. Instead she honestly felt deflated, as if she was really wanting to go on a real mission in the back of her mind.

"Okay. Keep me posted if you can find out anything else about 'Little Shego.'"

"Sure thing, Kim. Oh, by the way, I did get you those tickets."

Anne's eyebrows lit up. "You and Ron going to a special concert? Don't tell me you're actually thinking of seeing Dexter…that is his name, the former Oh Boyz guy, the one with the brains?"

"So not, Mom. Especially not after he hit on me when Ron got us backstage passes for the last one. It's just tickets to a symposium over at the Middleton Institute of Technology I wanted to go to so I could use it in a paper for my Advanced Physics class. They've even got Justine Flanner on the team."

"I'll drop them in your father's box at the Space Center. Later Kim." Wade signed off.

"You're absolutely convinced Ron is planning something behind your back, aren't you?" Her mother asked, sitting back in her seat slightly.

"It does sound like something he'd do."

"Really? You seem to suddenly know an awful lot about the way he thinks."

"S'ha, why wouldn't I? You're one of the ones who thinks we've been one person in two bodies for the better part of our lives. If anyone knows the way Ron thinks, it should be me."

Anne rolled her eyes slightly. "I think you've still got a lot to learn about people. I'll be the first to admit Ron tends to do some things without thinking them through, but what usually happens when he really puts his mind to something?"

"I dunno. If he can stay focused, he's really pretty smart sometimes."

"Like when he put together that tent at the Middleton Days festival? Or that time he took you to Go City for Valentines? Kimmie, your Ron has a very, very active imagination, and like you said, he can work wonders when he really gets into it. I think if he's got something up his sleeve, it's something that's really going to surprise you. You two might be…soulmates, if you're given to thinking that way."

"I am."

"Yes, but in reality you really are two different people. He's been known to surprise you in the past, and if you knew him too well, he wouldn't be able to do that, now would he?"

"I guess not."

"See. Not knowing all the little things about somebody can be a good thing. Life would be pretty boring if he couldn't surprise you with anything. You just have to have faith in him that he would never do anything willingly that would hurt you or anyone close to you."

Kim looked at her mother again, recalling the little smile she had when she first answered the Kimmunicator. "You know something, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ron's told you something. You know I trust my gut, and right now it's telling me you're in on whatever it is he's thinking about doing."

Anne shut off the engine. "No, I don't know anything. What I do know is that we're about to be late for our appointment, and I don't care if I have to pull rank on you as your mother, I'm getting you to try on at least a couple of these dresses today."

"You swear, he hasn't talked about anything?"

"Kimmie, I'm not going to sit here and swear an oath to you…now, cut that out, you know it doesn't work on me, and don't tell me it's yours either. I was doing the puppy dog pout long before you were born. In fact, it has a lot to do with you being conceived in the first place."

Kim held up her hands. "Whoa, too much info. I so don't want to know about any of that save for the fact I know I was born."

"Oh, come on now. Certainly you realize your father and I have a rather good sex-life. We're both grown-ups here, it's not like I'm protecting you from something."

Anne grinned at her daughter, actually enjoying watching her squirm slightly. "Besides, you might actually learn something that would make Ron a very happy young man."

"Mom! Please!" Kim nearly shrieked. "I have it on good authority that I can keep him perfectly happy as it is."

"Yes, I'm sure, counting the number of times I heard him shout 'booyah' at the top of his lungs when you two still lived at home. Think of it this way, you might be able to surprise him yourself, especially on your wedding night."

"Mom!" Kim growled.

She just barreled right on ahead. "You do realize I've been at this longer than you."

"Yes. Okay, fine, put me in therapy for the rest of my life, but…this is all hypothetical. I'm not even going to consider this is something you and Dad do."

Anne pulled on the door handle. "I think I'll tell you later. It's time for you to put on some _white._"

Kim followed her across the parking lot. "Oh sure, let's get into making fun of me for wanting to wear white again…"

* * *

Amethyst took her hands off the shoulders of the two sleeping youths. They looked so young, so innocent to her eyes. In fact, they were, relatively speaking. Or, at least they were when she got done.

It was so strange learning that so much of the family history she knew wasn't quite what it really seemed. Then again, time travel was itself a cornucopia of disturbing concepts. Many of the things she found herself witnessing didn't pan out like the stories Mom K and her Mother had told her over the ages. Time and again she found herself stepping forward and actively participating in the events, despite all the warnings she had been given about tinkering with the past.

It wasn't so simple, though, when she found herself in the middle of things. Just like in the snow-storm, she had always been told that her mother had been the one to signal the guys. Yet she had learned it really wasn't Shego/Sherry at all, but herself who fired the green flare into the blizzard. History hadn't changed, it only unfolded in a way that made her an integral part. She had no doubt that if she hadn't, the two most important women in her life might have perished, before her husband even had the chance to be born.

The biggest surprise came with a little side-trip in time. It seemed that, no matter what she did, she wasn't really rewriting history, but living it.

Most of the time, she was able to stay in the shadows, watching as the familiar stories unfolded before her. That was _most_ of the time. In fact, this particular time she hadn't even intended to stop by, but found she really couldn't help herself. It seemed like such a simple moment between the two teens who would become lovers.

Ammie thought she was going to witness the two of them sitting on that same bench, sleeping against each other after being bored out of their skulls by an exhibit she had seen herself in her teens. She really had to admit it wasn't all that interesting, especially not for a young woman who had seen other planets and witnessed wonders that could only be dreamed about on Earth.

What she didn't expect was the utter devastation she found when she arrived at what she thought was the correct time. Much of the Tri-City area was in ruins, with the center of the blast where the museum was supposed to be.

She spent several hours just wandering around, her treaded boots crunching across ground that had been turned into blackened glass. What on Earth could have caused such destruction?

As a lone hoverjet surveyed the damage from above, she realized that what Kim and Ron always thought was just a dream shared between the two of them actually wasn't.

The Electro-Static Illuminator was very real!

Slowly she started piecing together what she knew. Since it really only relied on static electricity, it was beyond the scope of her enhanced senses. She could tell when something was interfering with the space-time continuum, but not something that, at the most basic level, was nothing more than a very destructive invention that had been sucking up power for one hundred years.

But why had it gone off?

That didn't make sense. When Mom K had told her the story, back when she still called her "Aunt Kim," it turned out she did have a great, great aunt named Mim Possible who had gone on the lam after being accused of stealing the device, but nothing ever turned up about it, leading most to believe that it probably never was real in the first place. That was just Kim's way, being thorough just in case something that dangerous was actually extant.

The huge, smoking crater was proof that it was.

How had it happened? That wasn't in the history. If the entire area had been blown to kingdom come, it would have been remembered.

Ammie started getting a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that somehow she had managed to screw something up in the past. How she had done that, she didn't have a clue. All she had done was observe. There was no way they had detected her. She knew where all the blind spots would be, so it was safe just to casually watch as the important events in the lives of her family took place.

She was well educated and tested as a near-genius, and having the ability, with some difficulty, to travel through time, she was well versed in temporal mechanics. The change she had made to the past by sending up the flare had proven that she was actually supposed to be there. No paradox had been created, though she didn't know if by some small happenstance she had really changed something.

What if she was responsible for righting all sorts of minor glitches in the timeline? Minor? A bowl-shaped crater that had been the second most populous part of Colorado wasn't minor. Something that catastrophic could change the course of the whole world. What if it was up to her to go back and right every wrong in history, creating a better world?

No, that wasn't possible. She was living in a world with a very specific history. If she went back to change something, it was because she was meant to. That meant she had to go back and find out what happened.

She could feel her gut twisting as she summoned the part of her power that would allow her to step aside from time. Part of it she knew was just the new life growing in her womb, but the other was a twinge of fear she had that she might arrive just as the Illuminator went off. Her healing powers could instantly sooth a cut or scrape, but it would do nothing if her whole being was blasted to atoms by the electrical equivalent of a ten megaton bomb going off. That would spell the end for her as well as all the lives obviously lost in the accident.

There was also the realization that Kim, Ron, and perhaps her own parents were caught in the blast as well. There was always the hope at least the former was off on a mission…

…but Mother and Daddy were supposed to be at Granny Lipsky's then.

Shoving that thought out of her mind, she concentrated on the task at hand. The world around her shifted slightly. One of the things many who tried to unravel the secrets of time travel forgot was that everything was constantly in motion. Not only did she have to move through the time-stream, but she had to physically move from place to place in the process, lest she end up in the same exact spot in the universe, only to discover the planet was long gone from where it had been when she began. It took her advanced sense of the cosmos to follow along with where it was, where it would be and how it was moving during the entire process. Fortunately, her power to teleport over great distances was indispensable for that.

From her point of view, moments later she was in the large, open exhibit hall of the museum. With a touch of the controls of her Mark 5 Super-Suit, it shifted, becoming a rather conservative dress in what she though was the style of the time.

It wouldn't do to wander around in there dressed in a skin-tight, belly baring power suit.

As she watched, a group of students, led by none-other than her High School nemesis, Steve Barkin, trooped in. Just as she expected, there were Kim and Ron. Her mother-in-law looked much the same as she knew her, though a bit skinnier. It was amazing how much Ron had changed. He was so…small!

She watched as the group made their way through the hall. Barkin was his usual boring self, to the point she was feeling a bit drowsy herself.

Then the whole group filed out again, into a waiting school bus. Her eyes shot open when she realized something.

Kim and Ron never fell asleep!

Taking a chance, she slipped back in time to their arrival again. That was when she noticed the difference.

There was no picture of Mim Possible and Jonathan Stoppable to catch their attention.

Ammie almost smacked her forehead. She thought at first she was going to have to step in and do something drastic, like destroying the device herself. Instead it was just so simple.

Slipping back in time once more, she brought some of the less-than-legal talents her mother had passed on to her into play, slipping into the storage facility of the museum and finding the pictures. It didn't take much to put it, along with a news clipping, up, right where the couple would see it.

Smiling to herself, she sat back and watched history rewrite itself, right to the point where her entire extant family watched as the device went off in the upper stratosphere. It wasn't a dream, it never was.

Amethyst almost started the process of returning to the timeline where her real work lay, when it dawned on her that something else was wrong. Kim, Ron, her mother and her Daddy all knew it was real, having saved the Tri-City area from certain destruction.

Rolling her eyes in mild frustration, she set to putting the final touches on history as she knew it. The roof was actually the hardest part, taking several days of bringing in workers, then making them think it was a dream themselves. As for her parents, she took them back to the rented "Time-Share" lair, leaving them to sleep off the aftereffects of her powers.

Kim and Ron seemed to be the simplest of them all. She simply took them back to the day of the class. The problem was, there would be two sets of the future couple running around Middleton. That's were one of the more esoteric components of her power came into play. She simply merged the two-day older pair with the other two, creating a diverging timeline where the cities were saved, but nobody would actually remember it. It was like it never happened, though it did.

Even to somebody as intelligent as her, it caused brain-pain.

It wasn't until she was back in 2010, ready to lay down to what was likely to be a twenty-hour sleep (after using her powers so extensively) that she realized her one mistake.

Kim had come to the museum wearing her green tank and periwinkle capris and Ron was in his red jersey, yet when she left them peacefully sleeping on that bench, they were wearing something else entirely.

Oops!

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	40. Chapter 40

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 40**

* * *

If it were not for a couple facts, Kim would have thought they were actually on an airplane. This first was that every so often a slight sound from the outside world would intrude upon the quiet that was their tiny little compartment. Sometimes it was a bell, more often it would be the steel wheels of their current transportation clacking across the small imperfections in the metal ribbons it rode upon. Less often, it would be the deep, mechanical sound of another set of locomotives passing them when they pulled to a stop on a siding.

The second was pretty much the fact they had a compartment to themselves. On rare occasions they had been treated to first class accommodations on an airliner, and even less often they were afforded the chance to fly in a private jet. Yet, none of those times allowed them the privacy they had as they slowly made their way to Go City.

Kim had to admit that she liked trains. Sure, they were interminably slow as far as transportation went, but it was easy to be jaded about such things after flying in experimental hypersonic transports. There was just something proper and old-fashioned about riding in something that mostly ran about seventy miles per hour when they didn't have to pull into a siding to let more profitable freight trains pass.

Maybe they awakened a latent nostalgic streak in her. Riding a circus train to take on Dementor when she was a teen had been fun, even if Ron managed to lose his pants to a lion who seemed to have a rather unique sense of humor. Well, she actually had to admit, that part was fun as well. She really didn't care that he lost them for more prurient reasons at the time, but seeing how the jungle cat waited until he actually had an audience…it still caused a slight chuckle when she thought about it.

It also seemed a little odd to think that the car she was riding in was actually older than her. In fact, it was older than her parents as well. It was clean, comfortable (to a point) and in good repair, but still seemed to be something that had been plucked out of a time when the slower, simpler means of moving about the country were common.

The trip reminded her of the last time she had spent an appreciable amount of time on a passenger train. It didn't seem like four years had passed since Ron had taken her to the same major city as a surprise Valentine's day present. She could still picture that seemingly innocent time in her mind. Most prominently she could recall the return trip, with the two of them sitting snuggled together in their pajamas, holding hands or holding each other as the older, slower train brought them back home, back to the realities of their high school and all the drama that had been so important at the time.

Ron had been a little put-off that they wouldn't be taking the advanced 'high speed' train on this trip. It seemed that most of those had been assigned to more 'important' corridors, such as the route between Washington DC and New York City, as well as a couple plying the rails up and down the west coast. The route from Denver to Go City, while still important in its own right, seemed to be better served with the airlines.

If they had been in a hurry, then Kim would have simply called Wade and taken the flyer. Then the trip would have taken just a few short hours, rather than almost an entire day. In fact, she mentioned just that during the two-hour drive from Middleton to Denver to catch the train, but it was Ron who kept reminding her that the flyer was meant for missions, even if things had been fairly quiet on that front for a while.

She tightened her grip on Ron's hand just slightly as she caught sight of the sun dropping toward the horizon. They weren't scheduled to get into Go City until the early hours of the morning, making her happy they had been upgraded to the private compartment. Even though they had been sitting for many hours by that point, she still felt it would be good to get some sleep in an actual bunk rather than risk a stiff neck in one of the coach seats they passed on their way back from the diner earlier.

As the sun sank lower and the interior lights started winking to life, she looked over at her fiancé and smiled.

"Bet I know what you're thinking, KP." He grinned back at her.

Her eyebrow shot up momentarily. "Oh, so you've learned how we did that telepathy thingy again?" For a short time, just about a year earlier, they learned they could speak to each other with their minds. Then, with them almost expecting it, that power mysteriously stopped working the moment they got home. They simply chalked that up to another one of the weird, unexplainable things that had happened to them.

Besides, other things were on their minds at the time.

"Nah. I was just remembering Valentines in Oh Six. Remember how your Dad insisted we get separate rooms…and even called Wade to try and make him track us during the wee hours?"

Kim rolled her eyes as she gently lay her head on his shoulder. "He was just joking about that, baby. If he didn't trust you he wouldn't have given us permission for the trip."

"It was hard to tell when your Dad was joking, Kim. I figured after last year he was still gonna throw me in a black hole."

"You didn't seem so worried when I had you spend the night. In fact, I think you beat me to the bedroom."

"S'ha, cause he was about to figure out what we were up to. I still can't believe we got away with that."

"It's no big. Ron, we were twenty. Yeah, if we'd gone ahead when we first got together, I bet he'd have something to say, but he'd never do anything to hurt you."

"KP, he had a couple of his friends measure me for a space-suit on our first, real, official date."

"You think I don't know about that? Come on, even Mom thought that was funny. Ron, Dad loves you, you know that. Yeah, if he'd walked in on us when we almost went through with it in Florida, that would have been so the drama. He'd have yelled, and fitted and fumed and very likely would have grounded both of us until we could drink legally, but he wouldn't have ever done anything that would come between us. So, what's bringing all this old 'Dads' going to send me Black Hole Deep anxiety?"

"I dunno. Maybe cause we're riding a train and it reminds me of that time. Maybe cause I was kinda hoping that this time we didn't have to play like 'good kids.'"

"Uh huh. I thought that's what you were thinking. You do know this is a business trip, not a vacation, so vacation rules don't apply?"

Ron looked honestly confused for a moment. "Wait, I thought vacation rules was we didn't have to watch what we're eating."

Kim lifted her head up, fixing his eyes with hers. In a couple heartbeats she realized he didn't quite get that she was talking dirty with him. Deftly she nuzzled the edge of his large ear with her nose, then whispered into it, explaining it to him. She wasn't sure, but it seemed his face darkened slightly. In just under a year or knowing each other much more…intimately, he had not quite gotten the hang of speaking in double-entendres.

Then again, she was really more of an actions speaking louder than words type.

"So, KP, what had you so amped up last week? Don't tell me it was that trip to the wedding planners with your Mom."

Kim sat back and looked at him again. Somehow either she hadn't made it clear enough that it was time for the whispered activities to commence, or Ron was slipping back into his old hyper-randomness. Then her eyes narrowed slightly. "Amped, I wasn't amped up."

"You so were. Every time the phone rang or your Kimmunicator beeped," he tapped her bracelet with his free hand."

"Did not. I just must have been expecting a call or something. Besides, Mom is so ferociously going overboard with the wedding thing."

"See, that's what I don't get about you, Kim. We're finally getting married in just a few months and you act like you don't even want to think about it."

"Ronnie, you've said it yourself a thousand times. Even Rabbi Katz has said it. For all intents and purposes, we're already married. We've got our own place and everything. Really, I hate to say this because it's going to come out a little wrong, but it's really no big."

"It is big, KP. Yeah, we jumped the gun on the fun parts, but remember, you're the same girl who had to plan out every last detail of half the dances at Middleton High. You're the same girl who writes down every single item for the grocery store, right down to the size and everything."

"If I didn't' do that, you'd come home with half the snack section."

"No, when you go grocery shopping you have to take your time, making your way up and down every aisle, trying to find what will make the best meals. You've got to select your ingredients, you just can't plan everything. Grocery shopping isn't something to be taken lightly."

"That from the same guy who doesn't understand why I spend more than three hours at a time at the mall."

"Hey, no getting side-tracked. What is the deal with this no-wedding planning, thing, KP? If I didn't know better, it's like you're in denial that we're actually getting hitched."

Kim's mouth dropped open for a moment. She sat back in shock, even letting go of his hand, which had been firmly clasped in hers for perhaps the last two hundred miles. "Ron, it's so not like that. I want to get married to you so bad it hurts sometimes."

He shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying. Well, maybe it is on some level. It's like…we've been engaged for over three years. I get people asking me all the time what we're waiting for, and sometimes it's really hard to come up with a good answer. I don't like to talk about it with other folks, but sometimes people do talk, and I can't help but wonder about stuff like that."

"People talk?"

"Yeah. Sometimes it's in those grocery store magazines, sometimes it's other people at school. I try to ignore it, but I can't tune all of it out all the time. People say things about me, and sometimes it hurts."

"What are people saying about you, Ronnie? Please tell me they aren't saying you don't measure up, because they would be so wrong it's not even funny."

"I hear that, a little, but what gets me the most are the people who say you're…that you're something you're just not. Like they're comparing you to those other people in those papers."

"Ron, I used to read those things, until I got tired of seeing stories about me being shacked up with everyone from Jack Nicholson to that pretty boy actor in that movie about the Titanic. I just have to remember I'm in the public eye and I'm going to get a certain amount of that."

"Yeah, but now they're starting to make up stories about how you're just marrying me for the moment, then you'll find some pretty boy and leave me, just like Heather and her husbands."

"Ron, stop it, just stop. I thought we grew out of this a long, long time ago. I'm not going to leave you because some guy has a pretty face. You are, hands down, the most handsome man in the world to me and I wouldn't take anyone for you, no matter what."

"KP, I know that. I'm not stupid, but it doesn't stop other people from saying these things about you and that's what hurts. I know how it is between us, but what the rest of the world sees isn't exactly the clearest picture."

"Okay, I'm not going to get into this with you on this trip." She sand down in her seat for a moment, folding her hands on her lap. It seemed strange that, only minutes earlier, she had been thinking about drawing the blinds over their window after watching the sunset and doing the things she wanted to do on that first trip, but knew she wasn't ready for at the time, to feeling like they were on the verge of having a fight.

It didn't seem fair to her. Yes, he was probably right. Normally she would take a firm hand in the preparations, and probably still would. That meant a looming fight with her mother over their differing ideas about what the wedding day was supposed to be like, but that was something almost every daughter went through with their mothers.

The difference was that they had been engaged for so long, it had become the status quo of their relationship. Even though it was well more than a year after they realized their love for each other, it seemed they had been betrothed to each other forever. Yes, the wedding was going to take place in just over five months. Somehow that still seemed like an eternity, just like the time she had been waiting to turn eighteen after graduation. It was something that loomed in the future, always just out of reach, always so far away that it could be forced out of her mind, no matter how much she wished she could simply go to sleep and wake up on that day.

Could it be that she had pretty much ceded control to her mother early on? Or was there really something to what Ron was saying. Was she subconsciously in denial that the marriage was even going to take place? Did that mean there was something wrong with her, with them on some deep level? How could that possibly be. She loved him with her whole heart. That was something she was sure of, as sure as the sun they had just watched set would come again the next morning and as sure as she could breath.

Was she afraid of something?

There were so many things she was constantly being told she should be afraid of. They were too young, or they had been together too long, or the engagement was going on too long, or that neither of them had any real experience outside of each other. Those were all issues the two of them had dealt with, at length. She could tick off that list and explain in great detail why she had no fears about that. Yes, they were just twenty-one, but they had been together since they were four. Sure, they hadn't dated all that much outside of their relationship, but she didn't need to kiss a bunch of frogs to know she had her prince. She didn't need to sample the whole buffet when she knew he was what she truly wanted.

Above all, she knew with complete certainty that he felt the same way about her, and that really had nothing to do with the fact she was a pretty former cheerleader. Being smart and cute was one thing, but to be able to see in to the soul of another, that was a level of intimacy they had enjoyed long before their bodies had become one.

Then something did dawn on her. There were supposed to be no secrets. Surprises, yes, but not secrets. Ron had asked her a direct question and she had diverted it, leading them down a road that left both of them feeling a little worse than they had before.

"Ron, I have to be perfectly honest with you. Yes, Mom had me tweaked because of the wedding thing, but that's not what had me amped last week. She's got this notion about me wearing some stupid, overdone wedding dress and all and literally ambushed me with the whole thing that day, but that wasn't the problem."

"Let me guess, I was the problem?"

"No. Well, yes, kinda. See, I got it in my head that for some reason you were going to set it up so we would end up going on a mission together, just like old times, because it would make me feel better. I figured you'd work it so Joss and the Tweebs would be tied up somewhere and I'd feel duty-bound to do whatever it was that came up."

Ron sat there with the strangest expression on his face for a moment, making her think that was precisely what he had been up to, but it just didn't pan out or something. Then his lips spread into a goofy grin. "KP, that would be just stupid. What we do is real serious, it's about helping people, not playing at being adventurers. We promised each other that it was going to be until after grad before we tried that again, and I'm keeping that promise to you."

Smiling softly again, she reached over and twined her fingers with his. "You did seem like you had something up your sleeve."

"Maybe." He gave her hand a soft squeeze.

Her smile changed into a slightly wicked grin. "What is it?"

"I said maybe." He laughed.

"Ronald Eugene Stoppable, you will tell me what I want to know. I'm invoking the no-secretes clause."

"I will neither confirm nor deny that I have 'something up my sleeve' but if I did, then telling you would ruin it."

"Pweese" She dropped her head slightly, looking up with her eyes wide, her lip jutting out just so.

Ron's grin got even wider. "Booyah, it finally happened!"

"What?" She sat back again, staring at him.

"I just successfully resisted the Puppy Dog Pout at full power. Hang on there, Kim, I've gotta call your Dad and tell him how that works."

"You wouldn't dare!" She shrieked.

He held up his own wrist, showing off his digital watch. "I've got a Kimmunicator and I know how to use it."

She pulled him back down to his seat, her hand still firmly clasped with his. "Okay, keep your secrets. Just try to get out of me what I'm getting you for Valentine's day."

"Well, one, we said we weren't doing anything special for V-day this year and two, I've seen those bags from _Alexandria's Confession_ you've been trying to hide, so I somehow figure it involves something made of silk that you would most def not be wearing outside of the apartment."

Kim shook her head. "How do you know I just didn't buy a big pile of those brightly colored everyday panties or something?"

"Really, this should bear investigating. Hmmm, you were dressed before I got up, so let's see. Maybe the pink ones with the little kitties all over them, or that one with the string sides. Ooo, ooo, I know, you finally gave in and got a thong!"

"So not. I don't care what Monique says, having something _there_ all day long is _not_ comfortable."

Ron reached over, playing with the button of her jeans.

"Ronnie, the window's open. You want the whole world to see this?" She giggled, nodding toward the darkened glass.

"Eh, all they're going to see is a lit window going by at sixty miles and hour."

"Well, close it anyway, and make sure the door is locked. The last thing I need is another picture of us in every supermarket in the country."

Smiling devilishly, she watched his backside as he followed her directions. His own grin got bigger when he turned around. In that short space of time, she managed to kick her tennis shoes off and shuck off the jeans, giving him a very clear view of the aforementioned garments from the women's underthings store.

"Pink kitties." He half whispered, half drooled.

"Guess what, secret boy. I'm calling this a mission and I'm also calling dibs on team-lead."

"Yes ma'am, what are your orders?" He sat back down beside her, as close as possible so she could start working to the buttons of his shirt.

"For starters, until we get to the conference, we're going to treat this as a vacation."

"O…kay."

"That means, Ronnie, we don't have to watch what we eat."

He cocked his head to one side. "I thought you said we had enough at supper, but if you want to go back to the diner…"

Kim grabbed both sides of his face and stared directly into his brown eyes. Moments later it sank in.

"Ferret senses snackage!" He said with a smile.

* * *

a/n The Second Annual Fannie Awards are under way. You can vote at http// intbike. com /fannie 2.html (take out the spaces)

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	41. Chapter 41

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 41**

* * *

Go City Union Station was a study in bedlam. Their train was supposed to get in at five in the morning, but as was the case on many railroads, the freight took precedence, shunting even a high-class over-land special like theirs into sidings so often it was actually pushing nine before they were able to disembark. 

If they had actually been on time, the place would have been nearly deserted. Instead, their arrival coincided with a massive influx of commuter traffic coming from the many large suburbs ringing one of the largest cities in the nation.

Kim really should have been in a good mood. The trip itself so far had been fantastic and both of them had been able to enjoy some rather deep sleep, even in the tiny bunks of their compartment. Even the fact there was only room in each for only one of them at a time, they were able to get the rest they needed.

Yet, after it became clear they wouldn't arrive until deep in rush-hour, her outlook got gloomier and gloomier, and Ron was starting to get pretty down about their predicament himself. The worst of it was that they were planning on heading to the hotel first, not so much to catch forty winks before they had to catch a cab to Go City University, but that both of them really needed a good hot shower. In the end they had to settle for changing into clean clothes and washing their faces in the fold-out sink, making them at least presentable if not as fresh as they really wanted to be.

"I don't think I've seen this many people in one place in my life." Ron said, scanning the crowd while he struggled with their bags.

"So not the drama, Ron. There were more people in Tokyo for the Nakasumi Toy Parade."

"Yeah, but, uh, we spent most of that parade inside that float, and then we got hustled off by his staff. Never quite understood why he needed us when he already had bodyguards."

"That's because Mr. Nakasumi is smart. Normal thugs those guys could handle, but ninjas with flaming swords, and your old buddy Sumo Ninja?"

"You know, one of these days I'm going to have to ask Sensei about that guy. Sumo and Ninjitsu go together like Kosher pastrami and mayonnaise."

Kim cast her fiancé a quick look. "Ron, I've seen you put mayo on a sandwich with pastrami before."

"So not. That was sub-edible Middleton College Deli grub. That place is about as Kosher as that pork barbecue place we ate at in North Carolina that time. I'm talking real pastrami, so dark with spices it turns the rye brown and so moist you have to keep the plate under it."

"You know, you're actually starting to make me hungry talking like that, but I'd rather have some real breakfast."

He checked his watch, causing the two bags under his arms to slip out onto the floor. Bending over to grab them, he lost another, tangling with his legs and sending him down on his butt, spilling the rest of their gear on the tiled floor of the vaulted hallway.

Kim stood there a moment with her hands on her hips. "One of these days you're going to have to learn to pack for a short trip, Ron. We're only going to be away for two nights."

"Uh huh, and who always complains about us not being prepared for any eventuality?" He quipped, his pride hurt much worse than his backside.

"That's missions, Ron, and it's not like we're going to be going on any of those, unless you've been misleading me about whatever this surprise is supposed to be."

"Oh no." He quipped, getting to his feet. "You're not getting it out of me that easily."

Kim picked her own two bags up by the straps and slipped them over her shoulders. "I could just say you've got to sleep in your own room until the wedding."

"Nice try, Kimbo, but I already do sleep in my own room. Besides, you wouldn't last a week before you were begging me for some 'Ronshine.'"

She grinned as she walked, her nose pointed heavenwards. "That sounds almost like the stuff bets are made of, Mr. Stoppable, and no, I sleep in my room. You're the one who's either going to be in the spare bedroom or on the couch if I say so."

"But that's your stuff in the other room, and we keep telling people that it is yours."

Kim shook her head slightly. "Nope, I was the one who picked out the bedroom suite, and I'm not giving up my bed."

"You know, I'm willing to bet you can't even make it the rest of this trip without some Rondo time, let alone almost six months."

She stopped and turned around, facing him with her hands back on her hips. "Okay, you're on. If I can go the rest of this trip with nothing more than a publicly acceptable kiss, then you've got to tell me what you've got cooking."

"Nuh uh. No way. Like I told you, it's a surprise, not a secret."

"Then what am I supposed to get out of this bet?"

Turning to resume her trek across the crowded platform, Kim swished her backside ever so slightly, a move accentuated by the tight jeans she had on. "You know what you get, and I think you're the one who's going to crack first. After all, I brought that little number I got for our Prom night."

"The purple silk thing?"

"That's the one. You know, with the little tiny straps that barely hold onto my shoulders and the bottom that almost isn't long enough."

"Hmm, interesting. It's having no effect on me. Maybe I should take this bet, if it's going to be worth something."

"I already told you what it's worth, Ronnie."

"I'm thinking more along the lines of a no-holds-barred trip to the Grande Bueno Nacho, no diets, nothing. All the Chimiritos I can eat, and special orders as wild as I want them to be with nobody to judge me."

"Bleah. That'd just make my end of the bet all that much easier, considering how those beans affect you." To illustrate her point, she held her nose.

"So, what are the rules? Whoever breaks down first? If that's the way you want it, then we've got to have another rule?"

"Oh?"

"Whoever asks first gets it, no questions asked, or all bets are off."

"I still didn't agree to the Bueno Nacho thing. You do know how bad that stuff is for you."

"I know, it'll shave years off my life."

"I'm more worried about all the pounds you'll put on your waist…and the years thing."

"Kim, Kim, Kim. How little you understand the world of the culinary arts. Who is ever going to trust a skinny chef?"

She faced him again, gesturing at her own trim waist. "Maybe somebody who likes good food who wants to stay in shape themselves? Thinking you've got to be fat to make good food is so flawed."

"It's a known fact, KP. Trust me, I know." He pushed his belly out slightly, which was harder than it used to be since he really was in much better shape than he had been for most of his teen years.

Kim just rolled her eyes again. "You're just making it harder on yourself that way, like, oh, I really want you, you big chunk of man. Take me now!"

"You're just using hurtful sarcasm to deny your true feelings. Like I said, you can't go more than a day or two without the Ron-man."

"So not! You make it sound like I'm an addict."

"You're addicted to me." He answered with a sly smile.

Kim shook her head. She actually had no more plans of going through with such a bet with him than actually kicking him out of their room, though it did give her pause to think about the last thing he said. Had they been going a little overboard with the after-hours fun? Could she go for a while without him?

Of course she could, it was just so easy since they were living together. They both liked it, a lot and there didn't seem to be any harm in indulging themselves when they both felt like it. Just like the eventful train-ride. Sure, they didn't need a trip to do that sort of thing, it was just a little more fun in a sitch where they could feel slightly more naughty.

However, if Ron thought he was going to be joining any 'clubs' on the flight home, he was sadly mistaken. Their seats were coach and even if they could afford an upgrade to first-class, the flight was going to be crowded.

Kim actually caught herself and frowned. What did it matter if the plane was crowded or not? She was so not going to be caught doing anything like that even if they had the cabin all to themselves. It'd be just their luck that jerk tabloid photographer was hiding nearby, just waiting for a chance to pop another embarrassing picture.

"So what's this science conference all about anyway?" He asked, still stumbling slightly under his load.

"It's a joint project between the science department at GCU. Remember the research Justine was doing into inter-dimensional travel?"

"I just remember that dino-thingy rampaging all over Middleton and ripping the roof off the science class."

"That was no big, and besides, Drakken and DNAmy made that hybrid dinosaur, not Justine."

Ron seemed unimpressed. "That's not all the trouble that thing caused."

"I think Justine has learned to be a lot more careful now. Back then she was just causing a random tear in the space-time continuum. That's why it was called a 'disrupter.' Now they're working on a way to create a controlled doorway between the dimensions."

"But what does that have to do with us, or just you for that matter? You're and International Relations major, not a physi…uh, science type thingy."

"Ron, you perfectly well that I'm taking some advanced physics courses. Not everything I do is about my major. You've got to take science courses too."

"Hmm." He tried stroking his chin, but gave up when he almost lost one of the bags again. "Seems to me that this is another one of those things that might attract a certain thief."

Kim arched an eyebrow as they walked. "The thought did cross my mind, but that's not it at all. I'm getting mondo credit for the report I'm going to do on the conference, so the school work is more important."

"Kim! Ron!"

They stopped in their tracks, trying to place the source of the familiar voice calling out to them. Kim scowled slightly, not quite able to see over the milling crowd. Ron wasn't having very much luck either, even though he was several inches taller than Kim. His late-teens growth spurt only brought him up to average, though his slimness made him look taller than he was.

It wasn't long before they spotted the source of the voice, or at least something relating to it. It had definitely been a female calling to them, but it was a certain quite-tall male they spied first.

Mervin Godfrey tended to stick out in any crowd, even with his holographic projector working. He was tall, standing a couple inches over six feet and even thinner than Ron to boot, making him look like the proverbial bean-pole. It only took them a moment to realize who it was calling their names.

Bonnie Rockwaller looked somewhat different than she had when they were in school together, and it wasn't her longer hair or her slightly heavier appearance. It wasn't so much that she had been letting herself go over the last few years, but that she finally grew into a full woman's body, even more so than she had in her high-school years.

No, she wasn't fat, by any stretch of the imagination. It was more like her backside had taken on traits in common with one of the reasons Ron wanted to take Latin classes their junior year, and even though she had been in a committed relationship almost all of her university career.

Before either of them could react, Bonnie caught Kim up in a hug as if they were long-lost friends instead of former bitter rivals. It was the kind of greeting she would have expected from Tara (and still got even when it had only been days since they had seen her last.)

"Bonnie, I wasn't expecting to see you here." She said once she was able to catch her breath again.

"Well, I do live here now, silly, where would you expect me to be?"

"It's a big city." Kim said dubiously. "I didn't figure you for a trains type."

"I'm not, but the squad is going to be doing a photo-shoot here this afternoon, you know, fund raising calendars, and that sort of thing, so, as captain of the GCU cheerleaders, I have to be here."

"Finally made captain, huh? You do remember, that's a lot of work."

"Tell me about it. I don't even get to make up the routines, but they've got all these makeup people coming over, like we're models or something."

"Hi, Merv." Ron said genially, sticking a hand out for the taller man."

"That's Mervin, Stoppable. Nobody calls me Merv."

"Uh huh, except for me, my little grape-vine." Bonnie tickled his chin, which didn't do much to quell the scowl crossing his face. "So, K, I'm supposed to be here, what brings you to Go City? You and Stoppable on a mission or something, cause, you know, I'm kinda busy this afternoon, if you wanted some help again."

"Sorry, Bonnie. We're off missions for the time being, just like I told you back at Halloween. We're just here for a science conference for school."

"Cool, so you're heading over to the campus? You have _got_ to let me show you around."

Kim smiled back at her old…_friend._ "I thought you were busy."

"Oh, they can take a couple pictures, then I can scoot on out of here. You know, we could, like, catch up and stuff."

Kim was certain that would involve mostly Bonnie crowing about how she had conquered yet another food chain, perhaps coming out on top without being in direct competition with her. "Well, we'll be at the conference for most of the afternoon. Right now we've got to get to our hotel so we can stash our stuff."

"Oh, where are you staying?"

"The Go City Tipton."

Bonnie waved her hand dismissively. "Oh please, that place is do not worth all the hype. It's nothing like the original one in Boston and you don't even get to hobnob with the owner's daughter."

"It came highly recommended." Kim stated, a little bit of peeve building.

"Not to mention, it's practically across town from the campus."

"I know, but it's the best we could do. All the places we tried nearby are pretty much booked."

Bonnie put her arm around Kim's shoulder. "I have a place in mind that's a lot closer, and you don't have to worry about all those people in town for that freaky science fiction thingy convention either."

"Wait a second, you're not suggesting…" Mervin started.

"Of course I am. It's not like we don't have the room."

"Whoa, hold on there just a second. It's my house, or more accurately, my family's house. It's not a freaking hotel."

"Oh, shush. That house would still be empty if we hadn't moved in there, and you're brothers don't come over all that much any more, and as far as I'm concerned, it's my house too."

The tall superhero muttered something under his breath that elicited a scowl from his long-time girlfriend. Kim was sure the word 'married' was in there somewhere, but she wasn't sure and she didn't feel like prying, at least for the moment.

"I don't know, Bonnie, I wouldn't want to impose…"

"Nonsense, K. What are friends for? And like I said, it's a big house, it's not like you and Ron are going to bother us if you get…well, you know."

Kim shuddered slightly, not so much for the fact that she would be sleeping with Ron under the same roof with Bonnie, but that the fact the still-tanned cheerleader might be doing more than that with her usually purple-hued paramour in their own room. Still, she was feeling slightly trapped, basically because she was unable to come up with any better excuse than that. The travel tickets, both for the train and the plane-ride back home had come in the form of old favors being traded in, but the rooms were going to be coming out of their own pockets. That was going to be several hundred dollars that was really eating into their budgets, making thing tight until Ron got his next allowance check from his trust fund.

Bonnie hooked an arm around Kim's "We have so much to talk about. Did you know I was voted the most…"

Ron leaned closer to Mervin as the two women walked ahead of them. "If it weren't for the fact I know she's always been this way, I'd say you were well on your way to making her 'Mrs. Mego.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?" The tall man griped, glaring back at Ron as he followed after his lady-love.

* * *

Ammie never cared much for science fiction. Considering she had actually been to other worlds and had flown through space in ships even the convention-goers would find fantastic, it was easy for her to be jaded, at least a little bit about it. 

She had news for the lot of them. For the most part, space was boring. It was just a lot of black, punctuated sometimes with pinpoints of light, or some glowing sphere sitting in the heavens. To her, it was much more interesting being on the ground, seeing real sights.

It certainly helped that she didn't have to rely on such mundane forms of transportation.

Still, it was a pretty good cover for her. Kim and Ron would be at the science conference at the nearby college campus, and despite her 'disguise' as Amy Corazon, it was too risky spending too much time close by. After all, she did take after her mother a great deal and she wasn't about to cut her waist-length hair just for the sake of a disguise. She might have had the power to heal, but that didn't extend to shaping her own body, including the length of her hair.

No, if she had powers like that, she would have done something about her modest bust and diminutive stature long ago.

There was always the chance that her once and future mother-in-law would be around when the event took place, but that was a chance she was going to have to take.

Everything she had been working toward was about to come to fruition, and there was a lot more at stake than Kim Possible recognizing the woman she had watched being born.

She fought down the urge to roll her eyes at the chubby _Space Passage_ fan. Instead, she returned the simple-yet-subtly difficult hand gesture and headed toward the food court. Hopefully she could find a can of the classic energy drink she used to crave as a child, without having Granny Dr P scold her for the ill effects it came to be known for.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	42. Chapter 42

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part **

* * *

"Ron, I'm not to sure about this. This is kind of freakish, and you know I don't do freakish."

"Oh, come on, KP. This is going to be fun! Remember, Bonnie told you we should try different things to keep the spice in our relationship."

Kim scowled at him for a moment. "I don't think this is quite what she was talking about."

"This is going to be so badical! Can't you see how pumped I am?"

"If it makes you happy, baby, but you're going to have to do something for me later on." Kim tried to put on a happy face, but she was too far out of her comfort zone to pull one off completely. After a few minutes of plastering a fake smile on her face she relaxed and the frown returned.

The morning had turned out pretty much as she expected it would. Bonnie pretty much never shut up from the moment they met at the train station until they pulled into the driveway of a house that could have been plucked from any suburb in the country. In fact, it bore a striking resemblance to a fictional television home that housed a large, blended family on a famous seventies sitcom. That actually made a bit of sense as it had once been home to a fairly large family.

The interior was much as she imagined it, although it seemed a tad sparse considering only two people were currently living in it and had taken on the master bedroom for themselves. The rest of the rooms were particularly empty, save for a well-appointed guest room they were shown into.

Mervin couldn't resist cluing the couple into the history of that particular room. "This was Sherry's when she was little, before we all pretty much moved into the Go Tower."

The room wasn't what she was expecting, though it had probably been remodeled at some point. Kim thought her one-time foe would have had everything done in green. Instead it was done in earth-tones that looked about a decade out of date.

For a woman who professed that she 'didn't do freakish' the thought that she was going to be sleeping in Shego's room at the invite of Bonnie Rockwaller was so beyond freakish she couldn't quite put it into words. It didn't matter that Sherry must have been in her early teens the last time she had set foot in there, perhaps even before she had become 'Shego.' It was the thought that counted in that sitch.

It was so strange she had a notion that she might be holding true to the half-kidding bet she made with Ron in the train station.

There still wasn't time to get a shower, though they were able to freshen up a good deal better than had had been able to on the train before they had to head over to the campus for the preliminary presentations. Kim came back out of the attached bathroom buttoning on a fresh blouse when she noticed Ron staring out the window.

She tried figuring out what he was looking at, until she noticed the tree.

The back yard was somewhat small, and like the home she had grown up in, it bordered on some thick woods. Part of those woods weren't as dense as the rest, looking like it had at one time been part of the neatly trimmed patch of land behind the house.

The tree itself looked slightly misshapen, as if some tragedy had befallen it sometime in its past. It looked like some type of maple, but she couldn't be sure. Then again, it must have been some form of evergreen since it still had all its leaves in the dead of winter.

The distorted shape of the tree wasn't what held both their attention. It was the leaves themselves. For the most part, they were green and if the sky hadn't been crystal clear they might not have ever noticed the strange tinge on certain sections of the foliage. It was clearer if you looked out of the corner of your eye, though once you saw it, it was hard to miss.

Some of the leaves looked like they were trimmed in red, while others were blue. Yet another section was red, while the remainder was a rather vivid shade of green.

"Leave it to Shego's fam to have a funky multi-colored tree." Ron remarked, still staring out the window.

"Ron, I think that might be were the comet hit. Remember what Hego showed us when he first took us to the Go Tower? I bet there might even be something left of their treehouse in there."

She couldn't help but stare herself. The holographic video was more artist's rendering than fact, so seeing the place first-hand was somewhat awe-inspiring, even if, to them, it was the birthplace of a villain instead of the origin of a family of superheroes.

Mervin drove them to the campus while Bonnie headed back to the train station for the photo shoot. Go City University was markedly different than what they were used to. Middleton College was an odd assortment of styles all jumbled together, as buildings were built and replaced over the hundred years it had been serving their hometown. The University had come into being many decades later, and the majority of the buildings on the campus reflected the style of that era, or rather, the lack of it. There were somewhat fewer trees left. Instead, it looked as if a child's set of blocks had been poured out onto the grounds. The buildings were made of white concrete and bore very little detail. They did their job, though without the character their more eclectic school boasted.

Kim was proud of Ron. Somehow or another he managed to stay awake as the team of scientists introduced their project. Four years of paying attention as if his academic life depended on it (it did!) were paying off. Still, despite her own advanced knowledge, she was hard-pressed to understand most of it herself.

When they finally broke for lunch, Kim decided to hit the books so she could further grasp some of the concepts she was introduced to. It helped when Ron suddenly started spouting facts and figures he remembered verbatim.

"I don't know what any of it means." He confessed as she furiously typed notes into their laptop.

"Honey, I think the only one in that room who understood it all was Justine. Did you see how many times Professor Allenford had to refer to her?"

"No kidding. I'm willing to bet he's taking most of the credit for this project while she's doing all the work."

"Now, why does that sound familiar?" She grinned at him and took a sip of the smoothie they were sharing.

It took him a couple minutes, but that finally sunk in. "Hey, I learned my lesson."

"Yeah, but it took Monique to finally whip your butt into shape. Imagine how much better that volcano would have been if the two of you didn't have to rush it the last night before the project was due?"

Ron crossed his arms defensively. "I got a B minus, didn't I?"

"Only because Barkin loves the classics, but you're right, it'd be ferociously unfair if they're taking all the credit because she's just a junior professor. Man, I wish I had a tenth of the smarts she does." She leaned on her palm, scanning her notes.

"KP, you're one of the smartest people I know."

"I get by. All that brain power just comes naturally to her."

"Yeah, but can she kick bad-guy biscuit? Can she cheerlead? Has she got a badical boyfriend?"

"Oh, I have a feeling Justine has time for a little bit of a social life. You remember where else we've seen her."

"Kimbo, I have a sneaking suspicion that her competing at the robot rumble isn't exactly the crown jewel of whatever food chain she's supposed to be in."

"Actually, it's pretty much just the opposite. She did go to the prom with the captain of the chess team…and you weren't exactly the top of the heap, if I remember correctly."

"Let's see, I was dating the head cheerleader, who also happened to be voted Prom Queen."

She glanced back up at him. "Big heady-ness alert."

"So not. Hey, you know, I heard some of the other students talking, I think I've got a pretty good idea why so many hotel rooms were booked up."

Kim winced slightly. She knew good and well what was going on, having heard Bonnie droning on and on about it. Maybe Ron had been tuning the verbose, self-centered brunette out, or perhaps he was too busy trading quips with an increasingly aggravated Mervin.

"We are so not going."

"Please, KP!"

"No, that's all I have to…" Her mouth dropped open as she looked at Ron. If she hadn't been sitting at the table across from him at the time, she wouldn't have believed it. He had it perfect, from the hunched shoulders to the protruding bottom lip.

"No, not the Puppy-Dog-Pout!"

"But I wanna go, Kim."

"Ron, you know I'm not into the Sci Fi thing, and don't get all Wade telling me not to call it that. _Space Passage_ is so science fiction, no matter what all the _Passies _ say about it."

"That's _Passers,_ KP. _Passies_ is a dero…derogo…it's a bad word for _Space Passage _fans, you know, the ones who still live in their mother's basement. The true fans are above that. Take Larry for instance."

Kim made a rude noise in her throat. "I think you just made the point for me. If this had been a_ Moon Beyond Ion…_"

"That's _Moon Beyond Io _Kim. Get your SciFi movies straight."

"WhatEVER. What I'm saying is he'd be here wearing one of those stupid role-playing costumes of his. Haven't you seen the pictures of those conventions?"

"Yeah, folks showing up at a convention dressed up as something. I seem to remember a certain young woman wearing a rather beautilicious catsuit…"

"We were undercover, Ron, and you were more interesting in disintegration rays than…"

"Than looking at how nice your butt looked in that thing, even if the tail was getting in the way? Kim, we might not have been together then, but I sure had lots of fantasies about playing with that tail."

"Really? You want to…see if Wade still has the costume?"

His eyes glazed over for a moment. "Buh, buh, buh, uh…I…uh, well, I'd actually kinda thought about you wearing your old cheerleader outfit sometime."

"Keep dreaming, bad boy. Okay, we can go, but we are so not going to dress up. The last time I wore one of those outfits, I had on…"

"The Red Shirt." Ron grinned. "I know, Wade played back the whole thing for me. You were so cute!" he said with the same oddly stilted voice he used when he first saw Kim as a Spitekin playing _Everlot_.

Her first sight of the convention pretty much confirmed her estimation. It was much more like the _Fearless Ferret _convention they had been to than the villains get-together in the same building several months later. About one in every four conventioneer was in costume and it was only because Ron had forced her to watch many of the reruns that she was able to distinguish between characters from _Space Passage: The Original Series, Space Passage: The Second Era, Space Passage: Far Station Six _and _Space Passage: Revenge._

She actually flinched as a gaggle of teenage boys dressed as _Cybers_ pushed past them. They looked like Goths with random bits of electronic junk glued to their outfits. Low powered red lasers gleamed everywhere, threatening to temporarily blind the unwary. What was worse was that they were all staying in character.

"Resistance is Pointless" one of them said to her, waving a fake prosthetic claw under her nose.

"Oy." She muttered, gripping Ron's hand a little more tightly.

"Look, KP! Kirk James is actually here this year! That's like…Epic!"

"I thought you didn't like the first series all that well. You seemed to like the newer ones better, and didn't he get in trouble for telling all these…_people_ to get a life?"

"That was just a joke, KP, and he's said he's sorry like a hundred times. Oh man, I can't believe I'm actually going to meet Kirk James!"

"Why are you so amped about him? He doesn't even look all that much like he did when he played Commander Kane, he's like, forty years older and a hundred pounds heavier."

"Oh, I don't care about him playing Commander Kane. He's the host of _Steel Cook_, that's why I want his autograph!"

Kim rolled her eyes as her fiancé pulled her through the crowd. She had 'met' him once before, though that was when she got sucked into the classic TV show. In other words, she had seen the man in his prime. To see him decades older after obviously letting himself go for so long…not to mention his bad hair-piece that was so obvious aliens in space knew it was fake. "Oh look, there's like a thousand people in that line. You're so not going to see him."

Ron wasn't about to be so easily turned away. "I don't care if I'm here to midnight. Kim, he's like a god to chefs everywhere."

"Can he even cook himself? All I ever saw him doing was standing there talking while real chefs faced off in the game."

"It's not just a game, KP. Cooking is life!"

"Okay, you wait in line. I'm going to go find the food court and get something to drink."

"Kay. Bring me a slurpster, if they have 'em."

Giving him a little kiss on the cheek, she left him to the slow-moving line. It was funny how much he begged to see the convention, only to pretty much consign himself to standing in line for hours rather than seeing all the other displays. Then again, it seemed most of the other patrons had the same idea. Fortunately for her, she could easily forego spending those hours only to spend about five seconds speaking to the aging actor.

Thirty minutes later, and five dollars poorer, she sat down with a cola that would have looked puny beside a 'medium' cup at Bueno Nacho. The food being served at the place really made the fare at the student commons back home look like, well, Ron had made it. Even the pizza, which was being sold by a major delivery chain, smelled much more like the burnt garbage served at J. P. Bearymore's, making her think that dinner really would be at Hego's place of business, and at a third of the price if they actually had to pay at one of the Tex-Mex eateries. Still, she was thirsty, and if Ron wanted to burn up so much time to meet his cooking idol.

Away from the more direct assault on the senses that was the main floor of the convention, Kim was able to think a little more clearly about the morning. Not so much about the science conference, that was pretty cut and dried as far as she was concerned. She was actually thinking more about Bonnie.

The young brunette had changed much more than her outward appearance. The longer hair and even more generous curves were pretty much expected, if her older sisters were any indication. No, the changes went much deeper than that. Was it simply just growing up, or had something happened to her after she left Middleton that made her…nicer?

Maybe it was simply because, for the first time in her life, Bonnie was winning. Could it have been so easy back in high school? Just let her win sometimes, instead of always being the one on top? No, that really wasn't the case. She once gave her the captaincy of the cheerleading squad on a silver platter. Then again, after three years of hard work, she actually had become the captain on her own merits. Maybe that was the key. Perhaps she had to really win, not be given it.

Then too, it might be because she was honestly in love. At times it seemed like she led Mervin around by the collar, but there were other, little things that tipped her off that there was something real between the two of them. Small glances they would give each other, little touches, some innocent, others not so much, told her that there was a strong intimate bond between the couple, perhaps even as strong as the one she had with Ron.

Did the two of them look like that to others? Every so often Ron's hand would drift a little too low when they were out in public, or he would 'accidentally' brush against parts of her.

That also made her wonder how people saw the two of them as a young couple. Yes, the tabloids did make hay about them living together for a while, once they finally got it through their thick skulls that Ron really was her significant other. Did people see them together and wonder what went on behind closed doors? Was that how the world viewed them any more?

Part of the answer may have been in the fact they found it necessary to issue a press-release about their impending nuptials simply to keep the supermarket rags from spreading even more false rumors. Kim had never even met Brad Pitt, let alone taken up housekeeping with him. Besides, she wasn't built anything like Angelina Jolie anyway.

She took another sip of her drink, lamenting the fact it was more like a little cola splashed on a lot of ice and settled in for a little people-watching. The parade of…interesting characters made that a little more fun than doing the same at the mall back home.

The more she thought about it, the more fun she was actually having. Maybe, if she admitted as much to Ron, she could pry him out of that line so they could see everything else, instead of a septuagenarian actor who would never have even been noticed if it wasn't for his best-known role. That would more than make up for the dread she had about attending the thing. Everything was better when the two of them could do it together.

She polished off the meager remains of her drink and got up to head back to the autograph line when she spotted a group of teens following a particularly attractive young woman around. At first she felt bad for the lady, until she realized she was apparently in costume herself. The odd thing was, she didn't recognize it from any of the series or the nearly dozen movies that had been made from the franchise. That in itself wasn't odd, except there was something distinctly familiar about it.

Kim tried placing the character. Really, she should have remembered. The outfit was rather striking, something between a cross between a catsuit and one of her own super-suits. At first she wondered if it was an incorrectly embellished version of the half-human, half _Cyber_ woman from one of the later series, but somehow it didn't fit. That woman was tall, buxom and had very short blonde hair. This woman was a petite brunette with hair so long it reached down past her backside. Not to mention the costume was purple and black instead of sky blue or silver.

She almost laughed to herself when she considered it was almost the same color as Mego's Team Go uniform.

Then her jaw almost hit the table.

It wasn't a costume! It was…_her_!

In an instant, Kim was on her feet, vaulting up over the table, clearing a group of convention goers in a classic vault. She landed nimbly on another table, looking down on the startled woman.

"Amy Corazon, you are so busted!"

* * *

a/n Coming Soon: The Second Annual Fannie Awards presentation show. Check out http // intbike. com / fannie2. html for details

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	43. Chapter 43

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 43**

* * *

"Aw, man! How much slower can a line move?"

"Hrk, dunno." Rufus replied from his perch on Ron's shoulder.

"I bet Kim's in just as long a line to get that Slurpster." He slouched a little. "Look at all those people having a good time, and what am I doing? I'm standing in a line so I can get an autograph from a guy on a cooking show who doesn't even do the cooking. This tanks."

It was kind of hard to tell, but Rufus did manage to roll his tiny eyes.

"I don't even have anything good for him to autograph either. And, how long can it take the man to write his name? What are these people doing? Are they pitching their own ideas for _Steel Cook?_"

Ron craned his neck so he could see, but the line was doubled around a corner and he couldn't see the head, where a chubby fan was busy trying to get his point across between huge gulps of air. _Gasp _"…and then, in episode sixty-two when you were fighting the Corpulons in the Zygolon Sector there was that glitch in the showing on Caribbean Cable five years ago where it appeared that another, unknown actress was digitally inserted in the…"

Kirk James shook his head. Nobody had ever managed to produce a recording of the incident, but the rumors about it had been spreading through the internet for years. What was worse was that his agent had insisted on attending the event to help promote his flailing series, _Legally Boston._ To him, the conventions were worse than the travel deal commercials he was having to shoot to pay alimony to several of his ex wives.

Ron crossed his arms and sulked. The idea of simply abandoning the line and finding Kim did cross his mind, but he had already made his way about one quarter of the way through the line and his pride was not about to let him bail on it quite yet. That didn't keep him from slipping into 'tweaked' mode, though.

"What's keeping Kim so long? You'd think she'd flake on the drinks if the lines were too long, or she'd find somebody who owes her a favor and get the drinks for them.

Rufus chattered in his ear, pointing at his watch.

"What, call Kim on the Kimmunicators? I dunno, buddy, she'd probably think something was really wrong, and it's just drinks. These things are for emergencies…well, that and playing video games when I get really bored."

His eyes snapped open. "Oh cool, video games." He started messing with the controls, before realizing his miniature wrist Kimmunicator didn't have quite all the features of the bigger hand-helds, and his was sitting in his bags back at Mego's house. His arms snapped back up around his chest and his eyes drooped into an irritated squint. "So that's what if feels like for Kim to go into a sitch unprepared."

Glancing around, he noticed the fan behind him staring at him. It wasn't a quizzical stare, being more of a blank expression as if the young man were literally in another world at the moment. Before he could turn forward, their eyes met and Ron noticed he was wearing a cheap mock-up of a flight helmet from a competing Science Fiction franchise.

"I like Space Conflict." He said, as if that were indeed the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Tearing his eyes away from the dazed fan, Ron tried seeing around the corner. He was starting to fear that the actor would tire of his job and bail out himself, and at that moment he was finding that he wouldn't really blame him.

At tall woman in a bejeweled old-style bikini outfit swooshed by, doing a sort-of belly dance. Every inch of exposed skin (which, in her case, was quite plentiful) was painted sky blue, as if she was trying to mimic Drakken. Only Ron knew better, or at least he knew enough that she was supposed to be a character from the very original pilot of _Space Passage_. He couldn't remember what she was called, but a still of her was used in the closing credits.

Still, the woman portraying her was rather attractive in her own right, and being a guy who was still allowed to look (if Kim didn't catch him) he followed her as she danced down the line. It wasn't until she was almost out of sight that he realized the young fan behind him was staring at him again.

"I like Nebulon Slave Girls." He said in the same dazed dead-pan.

"Uh, don't bother me, I'm…thinking." Ron said, without actually thinking all that much. At least that was enough to let him avert his gaze once more.

"What's Kim doing?" He groused once more, trying to see the part of the convention center that had been set aside for concessions.

* * *

Amethyst had always heard the expression "Deer in the headlights" but she had never truly understood it, until that very moment when the young woman who would one day be her mother-in-law vaulted onto the table. She had faced down whole platoons of armored soldiers with advanced weaponry, had participated in pitched space battles and even managed to squeak out a 'yes' when her husband had proposed to her, but being faced with an enraged woman she had been raised to love and respect was something she wasn't truly prepared for.

It only lasted a moment, before the logical part of her brain was able to make itself heard. _Mom K doesn't know who you are and wouldn't believe it if told, and she can kick your butt from one side of this room to the other _was finally able to pierce her almost blind panic.

She had been rehearsing what she was going to say to Kim for almost a week, from her point of view, but all of that monologue was supposed to be delivered in the year 2032, not early 2010. _Hi, Mom K. Guess what? I know GJ and I have only been married, but we're having a baby!_

That wasn't going to happen unless she returned to that time, and that wasn't even possible until she completed her mission, and that wasn't simply because of her own honor, but because she physically wasn't able to return to her own time until the ether was repaired.

Kim sprang at her, executing a flip that she would probably never be able to do herself. Like her mother, she relied more on her powers than special physical skills. Still, she was able to spring away almost cat-like as the oddly young looking redhead pounced where she was a moment before.

She expected the crowd to start screaming, fleeing the beginning battle as two warrior women had it out on the concession floor. Oddly enough, that wasn't happening. As she dodged a flying kick from a small, sneaker shod foot, it dawned on her the crowd actually might think they were putting on a carefully choreographed fight scene.

Too bad it was actually the real thing.

"What's the deal with you and my fam?" Kim growled as she tried getting her hands on her purple-clad quarry.

That's Mom K, she thought, somehow able to recognize the woman's unique speech patterns in the middle of the presently one-sided battle. Even her own kids would sometimes snicker at her out-dated little catch-phrases and slang, but even in her mid-forties, she would still sometimes break out with the occasional 'spankin.'

Not that any of that mattered at that moment. There was a real danger here, and the irony that she had 'hidden' at the convention specifically to avoid Kim wasn't lost on her. The problem was, it was entirely possible she could be caught, and that could be disastrous not only for her, but for the whole world as she knew it.

Yet what was she going to do? For one thing, her more offensive powers simply did not work on her pursuer. Nobody had ever been able to explain that to her, but it had become true for her mother and proved true for her once her abilities fully blossomed. The healing powers certainly worked on them, just as they had when they had been sick recently, but the plasma blasts she was able to generate by mimicking her mother's abilities simply did not phase anyone in her immediate family.

Not that she wanted to blast Kim with it anyway, but something had to be done. Capture was _not_ an option.

Kim sprang onto a long folding table, and Ammie realized her opportunity. Almost in a flash, she crossed her wrists, igniting purple flames that wreathed her gloved hands. That flame grew in intensity until she was able to deliver a concentrated beam.

She didn't fire that beam directly at Kim, but at the closer end of the table. The redhead's eyes shot open, registering complete shock at the Ammie's display of power. That, and the fact she was being propelled upwards, out of control.

Ammie cringed for a moment, worried that Kim would be thrown into the overhead superstructure, but she let her breath out slightly when she grabbed one of the lower braces, turning her flight into a more controllable tumble.

Fearing the tide was about to turn against her again, she fired a tight, focused beam into the air. This time there were a few screams from the crowd, thinking she was taking direct aim at her opponent. Either the fans were getting into the spirit at what they thought to be a staged battle, or they were starting to figure out the two ladies were at it for real. To her it didn't matter, she had to find some way of escaping quickly.

Creating a teleportation lens in the middle of a crowded convention center was completely out of the question.

The beam struck its target dead on, burning through it in an instant. Kim looked up an instant too late as a banner dropped on her, tangling her as surely as if it were a net.

Ammie wasted no time, making a break for a small opening in the crowd. She could already see and hear security closing on their position. Once the established who Kim was, there would be no questions, but as for herself, she couldn't risk being caught even momentarily. If anyone tried identifying her, problems would be created that even she would be hard-pressed to correct.

For instance, why she had the same DNA as the toddler child of a former criminal.

Kim pulled the plastic banner away from her with a growl. "You didn't answer my question, Corazon, or whatever your name really is. How dare you spy on me when my future father-in-law was in such danger?"

Ammie did a hand-spring over a table, knocking over a number of pre-filled cups of soda and ice. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"How long have you been keeping tabs on us? Ever since you stole the MPG?"

The dark-haired beauty skidded to a halt, touching a hidden control on her wrist, extending the fabric of her suit over the exposed portions of her body. "To be honest, when I was in the hospital, nothing I told you was a lie." She sprang out of the way as the 'younger' redhead leapt clear over the same table, flipping once in the air before landing in a dead run.

Ammie somersaulted forwards, avoiding a swipe of Kim's fist. It connected with a nacho cheese dispenser, splitting the tank on top and sending the sticky orange mess in all directions.

"Wrong, 'Amy.' Wade and my Mom checked, there wasn't anyone else in there at the time."

She gritted her teeth. That was something she hadn't actually checked, but what she had said was the truth. It was her husband's grandfather having the operation that day, but she just assumed there would be others getting procedures at the time, and never suspected that anyone would make the connection between her and the innocuous young woman in the waiting room.

"Almost all the villains I've dealt with have steered clear of my family."

"Believe it or not, I'm not a villain." She found her back against a wall. Almost unwillingly, she brought her hands up, igniting her purple flames. The plasma itself might not have an effect on Kim's body, but she had no way of knowing that.

It had the intended effect. All the years of fighting Shego paid off, at least as far as she could tell, as she dodged to one side as the harmless show of light blasted over her shoulder.

That was all the distraction Ammie needed. She fired the defense screens of her suit, hoping to use the kinetic force of the expanding bubble to propel her away from the wall. Instead, all it did was rip through the thin barrier.

"Okay, this works." She vaulted backwards as Kim advanced on her again, breaking out into a full run in the more open space of the main convention floor.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ron heard the ruckus coming from another part of the convention center, but didn't pay it much mind. There seemed to be stuff like that going on all the time and nobody around him seemed to care all that much anyway. He'd seen the likes of that before. Even when he saved the Fearless Ferret convention from White Stripe's stink balloon, all he got was a mild smattering of applause, and even that ceased once the fans noticed Mr. North. As rabid as these fans could be, they were actually somewhat jaded about the whole affair.

Still, maybe something could break the monotony of standing in that line. He'd finally rounded the first corner, only to discover the line was doubled back on itself and was about three times longer than he first expected. It also had the benefit of drawing the attention of the creepy kid behind him, who seemed to be staring right at him every time he turned around.

He almost jumped out of his skin when he saw a sphere of purple light suddenly blast its way through a partition wall. Unlike most of the fans around him, he knew in an instant it wasn't part of the show, he'd seen it too many times.

Though it never had been purple.

Moments later, he saw Kim sprinting after a woman who looked vaguely like Shego, but dressed in more like her brother Mego.

His place in the line forgotten, he quickly moved to intercept the fleeing woman. Sure, the colors were all wrong, but the sight of his fiancé pursuing a woman with glowing hands was enough for him.

"I've got her, KP!"

Ammie turned toward his voice almost a moment too late. All she saw was a tow-headed young man bearing down on her, his arms akimbo, ready to tackle her. True, he didn't have his glasses or his neatly trimmed Vandyke beard, but there was no question her father-in-law was about to grab her.

She didn't have time to smile that he was the one who taught her the move she was about to use.

Ron's arms closed on air as she dropped to the floor, sliding through his legs, finally rolling back to her feet.

"Oh, come on, that only works on Gill!" Ron screamed as he tried to wheel around.

The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could think about them. "I'm sure Dr. Moss would appreciate that, Dad R…er, Daddio!"

_Oh, that was just stupid,_ she bit her lower lip hard as she searched for some place, any place she could duck into and 'port out without anyone seeing her. She was certain one or both of them had already seen the lens effect, and couldn't take the chance they would recognize it. Not to mention, unlike her suit, it would show up on Wade's instruments, even in a back-water time like 2010.

Ron was moving faster than she expected. Of course, he was just twenty-one instead of his mid-forties, but it still surprised her. Then an inspiration hit her. They think she's a villain, so why not play the part?

"Space Monkeys! Attack!" She pointed her finger right at the blond.

"Gah!" he screamed, throwing his arms up over his face to shield him from the imaginary attack.

Kim vaulted over his shoulders, heading straight for her. "That was ferociously low." She growled, executing a spinning kick right for her head.

That attack at least was one she knew. Grabbing Kim's sneaker in mid-air, she gave a slight twist, sending her flying into a pile of 'rocks' that were, fortunately, made of Styrofoam.

"You don't know the half of it, Kimmie." She shouted as she sprinted toward an exit. Ammie had to think a moment whether she accidentally said 'Aunt Kimmie,' which was what she called her when she was a little girl.

The doors split, admitting her into a deserted service corridor. Another exit sign glowed red ahead of her, but that wasn't _where_ she was going. With a backward kick, she slammed the door shut.

Kim hit the door a half-second after it closed. It only took her another couple seconds to cover the distance to the open door at the end of the passage, Ron close on her heels.

She stood there in the back alley of the building, looking in every direction, including upwards, but there was no sign of her quarry. Realizing the purple-clad woman had gotten away, she balled up her fists and turned back inside.

"I guess it goes without saying you're tweaked?"

"Oh yeah." She grumbled.

"Was that?"

"Yeah, that was our thief." She touched a control on her bracelet. Wade's image instantly winked to life. "Did you get any of that, Wade?"

"I've got some visuals, but that's just about it. I'll have to clean up the viewpoints a little bit, since your arm was moving pretty much the whole time."

"What about the sensor readings. It looked like she was wearing a battle suit."

"Sorry Kim, I've got nothing on this end. Except the visuals, it's like she wasn't even there. I'll get to work on it and see if I can turn up anything."

"Please and thank you." She replied distantly, looking back at the exit door.

"Come on, Ron. We're meeting Bonnie and Mervin for dinner, and gee, I'd hate to miss that." She reached for his hand and started dragging him back to the main hall.

"Did you get me a slurpster?" He almost asked about just a cola, but caught the look in her eyes as she looked back at him and wisely shut up.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	44. Chapter 44

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 44**

* * *

Ron was being as careful with his outfit as he possibly could. There was a lot riding on that day and part of that was getting his look down right. There was also the issue of how delicate some of his clothing was, or at least in his own mind.

Oh, it wasn't their wedding. That was still some months off, and for that he would once again pay a visit to his father's old tailor, old Mr Horowitz. He first met the man during his senior year of college, and as old fashioned as he seemed, he put together a tuxedo for his prom that just about knocked his socks off.

Too bad it was destroyed when Señor Senior Sr. kidnapped them from the dance.

No, the clothing he was putting on was special, partly because there was only two of his top left. One of those was neatly folded, sitting on top of Kim's pillow. That one he wouldn't wear, not so much because she had claimed it for herself, but for the fact it had been altered to fit her, meaning it would be stretched beyond recognition if he tried to put it on again.

The one he was pulling over a much newer navy blue turtleneck was probably in the same boat. It was when he put it on he realized just how much he had changed since his teens. It had come so gradually that he really never noticed it until he found something that forced the comparison.

Even though he was still on the slender side of average by a fair margin, Ron had finally grown into a man's body.

A goofy smile crossed his lips when he looked at the seam between his sleeve and shoulder in the oval dressing mirror. The repaired stitching was still all-too-visible, and despite his broader shoulders, there was still a slightly pooched out part where the fabric had been stretched. Even so, it made him happy to see that.

The black stripe around the bottom was now just dark gray. The crème stripes on the sleeves and just above the black now looked more off-white and the red that made up the body of his old jersey was actually a dark shade of pink, after having been washed so many times. Still, in his mind (and probably Kim's as well) the shirt was priceless.

He never really cared that the color scheme was for a team halfway across the country, it was just something he picked out one day at Smarty Mart when he was a freshman at Middleton High School. He liked it so well, he begged his mother to go back and get him some more. There were three left his size, and since they were three for ten dollars, she bought them out, and he proceeded to dress like that for the greater part of his high-school career.

Glancing back at the other, he remembered when Kim had shuddered at the thought most of his clothes came from the giant discount store. Here, some six years later, she slept in one of them almost every night, save the times she wore something…more for him. Kim made off with the top not long after they had gotten together, and it actually made him happy to see her wear it.

Quite frankly, seeing her in it had exactly the same effect on him as the far more revealing silky/lacy stuff.

Ron turned back to the mirror one more time. The rest of his clothes were relatively new. Tan cargo pants, the navy shirt, even his shoes hadn't been sufficiently weathered yet. His old pants had pretty much given up the ghost during a rescue mission involving a burning building, so new ones were in order, but, not surprisingly, none seemed to last as long as the first, so a quick trip to his favorite store was in order.

The room looked a bit strange to him, even though he had lived in it for almost six months the year before. Even though it had only been since last summer that they moved out of her old house, it now seemed somewhat alien to him. Sleeping there was also a little strange, but not bad enough he wasn't able to fall asleep.

Kim was very helpful in that regard. Other, very good memories came back very quickly of the time they both discovered they not only were ready to live together, but actually needed it on some level.

It was also nice they got to sleep on Kim's old bed. It was somewhere in size between a twin bed and an official 'full' sized bed, meaning it was really made to be roomy for one person sleeping there. It was only because of both their small frames they were ever able to be comfortable in it at all.

Spending the night in Kim's old home wasn't their plan at first, but it seemed quite natural after they spent the better part of the afternoon moving her old furniture back into it. They'd saved and scrimped enough they were able to buy a second queen-sized bedroom suite, so it was time for the 'borrowed' furniture to go back home. It was his idea to call on some of their friends with pickup trucks to move it rather than spend money on professional movers, though he did forget how big a chore it was lugging the heavy, nearly solid bed platform up the narrow iron staircase.

Jim and Tim came to the rescue with some anti-gravity panels scavenged from an older set of Team Possible flight pack wings.

It was all working out perfectly for Ron. He wanted this evening to be special. That was one of the reasons he was trying to recapture his old 'essential Ron-ness' by dressing that way. He wanted to recapture something that was special to both of them.

Not to mention the extras he had planned.

The stairs squeaked ever so slightly, telling him somebody heavier than Kim was climbing them. Being back in that room for the day brought back some old habits, and he quickly made sure there were no signs of their more private activities the night before, even though there was really no reason for them to be embarrassed about that any more. The room was in order, the bed was made, the clothes all picked up and he was alone anyway.

"It's going to be a bon-diggity evening, Dr. P." He said with a wide grin as the elder Possible entered the room.

"I'm sure it will be, Ronald. I've seen what the space center has planned for tonight, and I think every bit of it will be outstanding!" he pumped his fist, excited by the coming evening.

"Booyah!" Ron cheered.

"You know, I almost feel like I need to remind you about something. Now, what could that be." He stroked his chin in feigned thought for a moment. "Well, there's the fact we still have to work on what you should be calling me now. No, that's not it. If you want to wait for the wedding to start calling me Dad…"

"Dad P. Calling you just Dad would be too confusing with, well, Dad."

"Gotcha there, Ronald. No, I think I have it. I think it's time for a little Dad P to Ronald talk."

Ron arched an eye in confusion. "Uh, don't you think we're a little past all that kind of talk by now?"

James put an arm on Ron's shoulder and guided him to the edge of the bed, sitting down beside him. "Oh, there's always time to have a little father-to-future-son-in-law talk, especially when it comes to my Kimmie-cub."

"O…kay." He replied, a little tentatively.

"You see, the one thing I, or should I say we since Anne isn't here right now…we want for Kimmie is for her to be happy."

A huge grin split Ron's face as he realized where the older man was going. "As in, 'or else there will be deep trouble?'"

"Yes, and as for how deep…"

"Black hole deep!" They both chorused, laughing.

"Ronald, I don't think you have ever been in any danger of being sent to a black hole, though I remember how frightened you were when you and Kimmie-cub went on your first real date together."

"Somehow I think having your friends from the space center act like they were fitting me for a space suit kinda had something to do with that." Even though all of that had become a happy memory for both men, it still sent a little shiver down his spine.

"Oh, they weren't acting. They took all the measurements so we would have all the proper specifications ready…just in case they were needed."

"Heh, eh, heh heh, right, gotcha, 'Dad P.'" Ron laughed nervously.

"Ronald, with all seriousness, I'm so pleased with what you have planned for Kimmie. It make both Anne and me so happy that you would do something like that. If you ask me, something like this should have been coming a long time ago."

"Hey, speaking of KP and Mom P, when are they supposed to be back?"

"Oh, you know women. Once they get into shopping mode, it would take an act of congress to drag them away, though I really don't think you'll have any problem getting downtown in time tonight. Even though she doesn't know about the surprise, this is always very special to her."

"Yeah, even if she did try to beat me up the first time."

James got up and headed for the stairs. "Just remember to check the back of her neck when she gets home."

"Check for what?" Kim asked as she appeared in the trap door.

"Oh, nothing." Both men said, suddenly looking at the ceiling.

Kim crossed the room, sitting down beside her fiancé. "I forgot how cute you looked in that outfit." She leaned over, giving him a very warm kiss. "Maybe I should go back to the apartment and get my cargo pants and a turtleneck so I can dress just like you tonight." She cooed, touching the tip of his nose with her finger.

"Aw man, that's not how I was envisioning you tonight."

"You know what I'm wearing, silly." She giggled, letting her free hand travel just south of the edge of his shirt, giving the upper portion of his backside a light squeeze.

"Okay, you two, don't make me give Dr. Eng and Dr. Michaels a call. I'm sure the specs Ronald and I were just talking about are quite a bit out of date." James warned, grinning at the two young adults.

"We'll behave, Daddy." Kim said happily. "At least while you're in the room."

"Ah, you kids, always playing us squares." He laughed as he headed down the stairs. He wasn't too far into the act, as he quietly closed the door halfway down, leaving the two some measure of privacy.

Kim hooked a finger in the collar of Ron's shirt, drawing him in for another kiss. "Hey, careful, I don't think this old thing will take being jacked too much." He said softly as their lips parted.

"Oh, come on, can't I kiss the man I love? Besides, after all this wedding stuff Mom dragged me around looking at has me feeling a little…romantic."

Ron kissed her back, though it was a quick, if warm peck rather than the extended bus she had just given him. "Time and place, babe. Besides, I just got dressed."

"Just like a man, always jumping the gun." She teased.

"Heh, so not a problem with us."

"Nope, but I'll be a good girl…at least until we get to the part about the fireworks show." She leaned even closer to him, whispering in his ear. "Mom and I stopped by Middleton Motor Lodge, and guess what? There's a certain room available tonight."

"Prom night?"

"Uh huh, and this time I picked a little something up from Club Banana that might come in handy since that room has a Jacuzzi."

"Ah, a Booyah." He said softly, nuzzling her ear behind her long, soft hair.

"Okay, like you said, time and place. Besides, I have to change."

"Badical, I likes when you change."

"Uh, uh, uh! Not this time buster. We're going on a date, and like a proper gentleman you're going to wait downstairs with Mom and Daddy while I get ready." She touched his nose again and sat back a little on the bed, propping herself up on her elbows.

"You're taking this visit home a bit seriously, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"So, what'd you and Mom P do all day besides picking up bodacious hot-tub wear at your favorite store?"

"Well, like I said, we spent most of the time talking to the wedding planner, or, more accurately, Mom spent the time."

"She's still calling the shots?"

"She's trying to. I swear, I can't believe I let her talk me into having her be in charge of the wedding. We did get the invitations picked out, and we had a video conference call with Monique, so the bridesmaid dresses are in the works."

Ron lay back on the bed, propping his head with his hands. "I thought that was up to you, you know, so the bride is prettier than all her bridesmaids and all…not that you'd have any difficulty being the most beautiful woman there, save maybe your Mom."

"Who is this wise man, and what has he done with my big Cuddlebuddy? Good save there, baby. No, since Mon is going to be maid of honor, there's no way I'd get away with having them wear some hideous thing. They're going to be stylish, but you know her, she knows what she's doing. They're not going to upstage me."

"That's cool. You picked out a wedding dress yet?"

"Hey, that's for you to find out on our wedding day, but no, Mom's still pushing for some big, complicated thing with enough material for four dresses. Oh, we met with Pastor Grayson and Rabbi Katz together, so we're hammering out how the ceremony is going to go."

"Hmmm, I think that calls for a little 'oy vey.' You know there's going to be people in my fam upset if it's not a proper Jewish wedding."

"We're taking that into consideration…wait, you don't mean…"

"Yeah. I was talking to Mom on the phone this afternoon. My great aunts are coming."

"Gah. So much for my good mood. Still, I'm surprised they'd even come anywhere near, since they pretty much disowned you."

"I don't think it's so bad, KP. I'm still family and I think they actually respect me standing up to them the way I did a few years ago, At least I hope so."

"I am so going to be holding my breath when Rabbi Katz gets to the part about 'speak now or forever.' I wouldn't put it past them to stand right up and say something about me being a gentile."

"Don't worry about it, KP. That's just a tradition. Nobody ever says a thing, it wouldn't be…kosher."

"I don't know, Ronnie, that's in the ceremony for a reason, and even though your…our Rabbi wouldn't say anything, Pastor Grayson might be bound to at least hear them out."

Ron gripped her hand, squeezing it lightly. "I could always forget to mail the invites."

"No, like you said, they're family, and they're still in good graces with other parts of your fam, so we've got to do the right thing, though if they decided not to RSVP, I wouldn't be the least bit heartbroken."

Ron decided to change the subject. "You know, it's funny, I think this room is bigger than our whole apartment."

"Oh, come on, don't be silly. Yeah, it's a little bigger than our bedroom, but part of that is because we've got a lot bigger bed, and it's not like we won't have a nice, big room when our place is ready." Kim squeezed his hand right back, thanking him in a way for taking them back into the realm of pleasant thoughts.

"You know, KP, sometimes I sit and think about what it's going to be like when we've got money again."

"Oh please, don't tell me you're going to get all big-heady on me about it."

"No…well, there's a few things I really want to get, like there's this restored Trans Am I'd like to have, you know, so I'd have my own car."

"Ron." Kim shot him a warning look.

"It's cool, KP. I'm not going to go blow the whole fortune all at once. We'll pay off the townhouse, maybe get some badical new threads."

"If you say we're going to bling-blang, or whatever his name was, you're so spending the night back at our apartment, in the spare room."

"No, nothing like that. Just some nice stuff, practical nice stuff, and maybe get you some cool bling – from the jeweler Dad takes me to, like where I got you this." He twisted her engagement ring slightly. "As far as the bulk of the money, maybe I'd like to start my own restaurant. You know, put my college work to good use."

"Now that I can get behind." She lay back beside him, staring at the same spot on the ceiling. "I have been looking at this dress by Sperlucci, though I bet it'd be really snug, even on me."

"Uh huh, that's why you were so ticked at me when I got that check from BN, I wasn't spending it all on you."

"So not. You were spending that money like there was no end to it. If you were smart…"

"Nope, I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, that's for sure."

Kim rolled over, placing a hand on his chest. "You're one of the smartest men I know, because you learn from your mistakes, and I don't care if we're penniless and I end up having to wait tables at J.P. Bearymore's, I still love you and I'm spending the rest of my life with you."

She kissed him again, pulling herself a little further across him. Soon, they were both glad her father had elected to close the door on his way out.

* * *

"Did you get it?" Anne asked as she put the finishing touches on the meatloaf she was preparing for the rest of the family that evening.

"Not to worry, it's in the trunk of the Jag. The boys kept Ronald busy playing video games most of the day, plus I don't suspect he knows what's in that particular box. As far as I know, he's never spent all that much time in our attic anyway."

"Oh, I wouldn't be surprised. Who knows what those kids did in their spare time when we weren't here."

James looked in the direction of the main staircase. "Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea, and it doesn't involve them rummaging around in the attic."

"James, be nice. Now Kimmie, she would know what it is the second she laid eyes on it. I'm just glad we've got all the measurements down."

"I even took the extra step of transferring it into another box, then taking the old box back upstairs, just in case she went up there and missed it."

Anne put her arm around her husband's waist and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "I knew I married a genius. She doesn't suspect a thing, she thinks I've got my heart set on this awful thing we had her try on. You should have seen her in the veil, it looked like she was in a tent made of mosquito netting."

"That I would have loved to have seen." He looked again at the stairs. "It's really happening, isn't it, Anne. Our little girl is getting married."

"It's still four months away, and it's not like anything is really going to change. They've already moved out, and I have a sneaking suspicion both of them are going to have just as hard a time letting go as we have." She squeezed his middle even tighter. "You should have seen your face last night when they asked if they could spend the night in their old room. You could have given Ronald a run for his money on goofy grins."

"I just regret sometimes running them off the way I did. Having them back seems like old times."

"James, you didn't run them off."

"That's not what you said when I first brought up the subject."

"No, but I was wrong. It was time, and they knew it, at least in their hearts. I just didn't realize until then I wasn't ready to let go, but we did and now they're two of the happiest young people I know…shhhh, somebody's coming downstairs."

"Afternoon, Drs P." Ron grabbed an apple off the table, biting into it.

"Somebody seems real pleased with himself." James laughed, heading to the table to pick up where he'd left off reading his paper that morning.

"Just getting ready for a bon-diggity time with KP tonight."

"You two leaving early? I wouldn't have thought you'd be down for a bit yet." Anne asked, eying the young man up and down.

"Kim's getting ready, so she kinda kicked me out. You know, date prep and all that."

"Uh huh." Anne leaned closer to him, whispering. "You might want to go to the downstairs bathroom and fix your turtleneck. It's on inside out."

"Whoa, uh, heh, heh-heh." He pulled his collar out so he could check. "Hey, wait, it's on right."

"Gotcha."

Ron turned as red as his jersey used to be, as James pulled out his cell phone, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Macy, put me through to Dr. Eng, thanks."

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	45. Chapter 45

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 45**

* * *

"You know, the first time we went to this thing on a date, I don't think we got to do this." Kim smiled warmly at Ron , reaching up with her free hand to try brushing down the cowlick that still refused to behave, no matter what he tried doing with it. At least it wouldn't show on their wedding day, since he would be wearing a yarmulke for much of it.

Actually, it was more of an excuse to play with his hair than any honest attempt to plaster it down. It was part of him, just as much as his dark freckles, his long, slender nose or his rather large ears.

Kim learned a long time ago not to try to change anything about Ron Stoppable, though it took learning she didn't need to in the process.

"I think I was too busy worrying about what the heck was going on, and how you were going to handle me breaking up with you."

"I'm talking about the next one, silly, the one where it was a real date."

"Yeah, well, the plan was I'd make enough with my little booth that I'd be able to hold a lot more than just your hand at our senior prom."

She let go of his hand and wrapped her arm around his waist, pulling them close as they neared downtown. There were likely to be plenty of opportunities for them to snuggle as the sun set on the town. Being early March, winter had not completely let go and it was turning much colder than first anticipated. Still, Kim was not to be dissuaded from wearing her little black dress, even though some compromises had to be made.

The dress had come out once before during the winter, with less than spectacular results. Once again, she had on a pair of black thermal hose, and her coat left only a couple inches of the dress itself visible. This time, however, she had left the silly-looking dancer's ankle warmers at home. If she got cold enough, they could always call it an early evening and head to the motor lodge, where a steaming hot tub and crackling fireplace waited to warm both of them up. In fact, she was almost willing to forego the fireworks display later that evening, even if they were her favorite part of the evening's festivities.

"Think maybe we should have brought the car?" Ron wondered, letting his hand slip a little lower on her waist.

"Nah, we've always walked, but it's spankin we stayed at Mom and Dad's last night. I don't think my feet could take walking downtown from our apartment in these shoes."

He glanced down, trying to figure out how she was walking the relatively short distance in them anyway. They were dark red, like the high-heeled clogs she had worn that first time, but sandals were out of the question that night, so she had elected to wear mid-calf boots. He shook his head, thanking his lucky stars that he was a guy, and that his 'outfit' that night included sneakers.

There was a slight rumbling overhead, causing Kim to glance skyward. "That's funny, it's not cloudy enough for rain."

"Sounds more like an airplane. Maybe something big is landing at the Tri-City airport."

"Whatever it is, it's big, like a military jet of some kind." She let go of his waist, pulling her Mk2 Kimmunicator from the pocket of her jacket.

Before she could hit the call switch, Ron put a large hand over the slim-line unit. "Hey, we're on leave of absence, remember? Besides, if something dangerous was coming this way, I'm sure Wade would have given us the heads up."

She frowned slightly, then shrugged and put it away. "You're right. Maybe just a cargo plane that had to divert from the Air Force Base. No big."

"No big. The only big I want to see tonight is your smile."

She stopped and wrapped her arms around his shoulder. "So, big boy, are you going to win a giant stuffed gherkin for me, or do I have to win it for you?"

He gave her a light kiss. "I think we should leave the games to the kids this time."

"Oh, Wonnie, we don't have to act all grown up all the time." She mock pouted though a wide grin.

"Now there's that smile. Come on, I'm getting hungry and you know how I am about fair food."

"What, you're going to gorge yourself on corn dogs and hork when the Pickle Works float goes by?"

"Those were funnel cakes, and no, I'm not going to make an utter pig of myself." He patted his stomach with one hand, taking hers again as they started toward the festivities.

"That's funny." She pointed at the banner crossing the road as they entered the official Middleton Days Festival area. "It looks like they've covered it up with something. Did they forget to take the cover off?"

"Eh, hehe, uh, Hmmm, yeah, that is kinda odd, like they didn't want you to see it, but we're early yet, maybe they'll fix it in time for the parade."

Kim shot him a sideways glance. Something in his voice was tickling the back of her mind, as if he knew something but wasn't' telling her. Then she caught her first whiff of the food vendors, and that took her mind completely off the covered banner.

Suddenly their coats didn't matter. They were walking into a bit of their history. She no longer cared that the first time they had walked into the festival dressed the way they were, she wasn't in full control of her faculties. Oh, it would have mattered if the feelings the Moodulators had created weren't real, but they were. It only took them a few more months to actually realize it.

"This is so much nicer, actually being able to spend this time with you and not have to worry that Shego and Drakken are going to crash it…"

"Or that your Kimmunicator is going to go off like it did last year. I didn't even get to finish off that super-grande Naco I got at the Bueno Nacho booth."

"You didn't have to worry there, Ron. Rufus does have his good points sometimes."

"Hrk, Mmmm, Naco!" He squeaked, popping his head out of his pocket and rubbing his round, pink belly.

"I think you said the magic word, KP." Ron mentioned as Rufus scrambled up onto his shoulder.

Kim scratched the back of his neck, making the naked mole rat close his eyes in pleasure. Whoever said his kind couldn't feel pain never mentioned anything about more pleasant sensations. Then again, from what she had read about wild creatures like him, he was so utterly different from them it wasn't funny any more.

"Maybe the magic words for Rufus will be finding him a girl naked mole rat." She stage-whispered.

Rufus put a paw to his chin, as if he were thinking about the proposition of finding a mate, then shrugged and headed back down into his usual resting place.

"Yeah, I can just hear it now, the pitter-patter of little claws all over the apartment. We might even have to build an addition to the tube-city." Ron said, wistfully.

His little buddy popped out again, holding his nearly invisible nose with his claw-tips. "Mush!" He squeaked, before disappearing again.

"Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it, there Rufus." He said, giving Kim's hand a good squeeze.

"Oh, he's still just a little leary of other females, especially after that incident with the hairless cat."

"Ack, don't remind us." Both Ron and Rufus shivered slightly at the memory. "I didn't know if she was going to kiss him or eat him."

"I think both, but let's not go there. You do know he's not going to be happy when we get to the hotel tonight, baby? Maybe we should have left him at home this year."

"What, and him miss out on all this fair-food? S'ha, you know the fair is a veritable schmorgasbord where a rat can glut, glut, glut!"

"More like where a certain blond-haired cutey can glut, glut, glut. Don't go making yourself sick now."

"I won't. This is going to be the best night of your…our lives…save maybe our wedding night."

Kim shook her head. "Don't remind me."

"Wha? I thought you were looking forward to it."

She paused, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm not talking about us getting married, I mean the wedding itself. Ronnie, all you have to do is say the word and we can go back to Mom and Dad's house, get the car, and head to Vegas or wherever. Being married to you is going to be the greatest thing in my life. You're the greatest thing in my life. It's just…I had no idea there was so much planning involved for something that's really going to take about thirty minutes, tops."

"Sometimes I don't get you, KP. I mean, you plan everything, why not our wedding. Isn't it every girl's dream to have a big, fancy wedding?"

Kim shrugged. "When I was little, maybe, but now, when it really comes right down to it…Ronnie, the vision I have of my wedding…our wedding is something I've only seen in the old video tapes of Mom and Dad's wedding. Two families, some friends, Daddy walks me down the aisle, gives me away and Rabbi Katz does the ceremony."

"Uh, I'm confused, isn't that what we're doing?"

"In spirit. Instead, I think what we're going to have is two families that don't always get along…you do remember that time we had dinner with Reuben and Sam?"

"Heh, maybe I should see if I've got some of that blue body paint left over from Halloween. I've still got that Zorpox outfit around somewhere."

Kim held up a hand. "Oh no. It's bad enough she's never forgiven us…or more precisely, me, for all that, even though I really didn't have all that much to do with you freaking out and blowing up the reception hall, and I don't think we can blame her for feeling like we ruined her wedding day. Then too, think about it. The whole world knows we're getting married, what if Dementor or Monkey Fist, or worse try to disrupt it. That's why I think sometimes it'd be better if we went ahead and eloped, instead of having one great big freak-show."

It was Ron's turn to shrug. "Actually, I was talking to Assistant Director Bedarest about that. He says GJ is going to provide plenty of security, just in case somebody does crash the ceremony. Plus, I think it might be a good idea to invite Drakken and Shego. Ammie's mature enough, she could be our flower girl."

"Oh no. Well, yeah, inviting them would be a good idea, but can you imagine your Mom if CJ isn't the flower girl?"

Ron made a slightly funny face. "I dunno, I kinda see CJ as being the ring-bearer."

"Hey!" Rufus squeaked.

"I think that job is already claimed, unless you're planning on him being the best man."

"Okay, how about co-flower girls, and we can fly Bonnie in to be one of your bridesmaids."

Kim held up both hands. "I think Bonnie and I have put a lot of the old crap behind us, but I think we're a long way from having her stand at our wedding." She shook her head as they headed toward the games. "Who'da thunk we'd even be seriously considering it. Bonnie Rockwaller as…" She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"You know what's going to happen, don't you? We're talking having Bonnie come in, so that means she's going to bring her boyfriend. Next thing you know, his brothers are tagging along and we're going to have a Team Go reunion on our hands. See what I mean about this whole thing turning into a circus."

"And you're Dad doesn't like circus folk." Ron added, holding up a finger.

Kim looked at him for a second, then a huge grin split her face, right before she almost doubled over laughing. She started walking again, counting off names on her fingers. "So, there's Mr. Nakasumi, Sensei, oh, we'll probably have to invite Jack Hench, just to be polite. Let's see, I'm sure Monty Fiske will be around, so that means he's bringing Amy…"

"Whoa, okay, I see what you mean. Let's just forget the hotel and head to Vegas tonight. Of course, Mrs. Dr. P will never forgive us…"

Kim took his hand again. "I know, Ron. This has turned into her show, not mine. Still nice thinking about skipping to the important part."

"The honeymoon?"

She squeezed his hand tighter. "No, silly, the being married part. The part where I can have dinner with Rabbi Katz, or go to Aunt June's or even see the random person in the street and feel honest about how we're living."

He frowned slightly. "Wow, KP, I never knew that's how you felt about us living together."

"Stop, no. Well, yes, sometimes, depending on who we're talking to. I wouldn't change anything for the world, Ron, but sometimes it is important how other people see us. There was a time when I wouldn't have dreamed about the two of us being like this, but when it happened, it was right. It's just going to be nice to call you husband instead of just boyfriend or fiancé. It means we'll be starting our own family for real, instead of just playing like we are…" She stopped, noticing a group of people standing in line for one of the games. "Why are they looking at us like that?"

Ron shrugged again. "Maybe they're just noticing how beautilicious your legs are."

"Ron, they're all looking at us, and smiling."

"You're famous, KP, and you're beautiful. People smile when they see beautiful things."

"Ron, that's sweet and all, but what's the sitch?"

He started to speak, then bit his tongue. Still, he couldn't help but put on one of his trademark goofy grins.

"What have you done?" She asked finally, putting her hands on her hips.

Before he could say anything, a horn in the marching band that was about to precede the parade blew a note…

…then another, followed by two more.

Beep-beep-de-beep!

The rest of the band started in, playing a tune that sounded awfully familiar. It took her a couple minutes to realize it was the 'theme' music Ron had written for her many years before, when he thought they needed it to compete with Team Impossible.

Slowly shutting her mouth, she noticed he was softly singing along with the music.

"Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me…"

"Ron?"

His grin turned into a wide, toothy smile as he reached for her hand. "Come on, KP, you've got to see this!"

"How did? That's my song, isn't it."

"Yeah! Isn't it badical?" he grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the viewing stands.

The band run through the entire arrangement, finishing off with another lone brass blast of her Kimmunicator beep, before switching into a version of the old techo-beat song the cheerleaders used to use for their routines, a song she vaguely remembered as being called _Work It Out._

Immediately behind the band was a group of girls she recognized as the current Middleton High cheerleaders, only they weren't wearing the cold-weather pantsuits they would normally dress out in for early spring, but black crop-tops and baggy olive cargos.

Kim tore her eyes away from the spectacle for just a moment, looking back at the banner that had been covered as they entered. The tarp that had been draped over it had been removed, showing the sign in all it's royal blue and bright green glory.

_Kim Possible Days Festival_ was written on it Vipagnorgialla script.

Her jaw dropped open again as she turned back toward Ron, who was absolutely beaming.

"This…this is…"

Ron interrupted, pointing at the stage that had been erected in front of the viewing stands. The mayor of Middleton was stepping up to the microphone.

"I would like to welcome everyone to our annual Middleton Days Festival. I'm sure, many of you have noticed that we are doing something a little different this year. I'd first like to say that this is something that is long overdue, but tonight we are honoring Middleton's favorite daughter. I would like to say that my office has officially declared today to be Kim Possible day, but I'm afraid we can't do that."

There was a slight murmur from the crowd, along with a couple of wise-guys who apparently didn't vote for the man, but he simply ignored them and went on.

"See, when we were planning on announcing our declaration, we got a call from the governor's office. It seems he has taken it upon himself to steal our thunder and declare today as Kim Possible Day for the whole state!"

There was a deafening round of cheering. Kim felt tears starting to well in the corners of her eyes as Ron slipped an arm around her waist.

The mayor held up his hand. "Unfortunately, that's not going to happen..."

The murmur came back, a little more angrily than before.

"…because the _President_ called and made today Kim Possible Day!"

As the crowd cheered the last part of the announcement, he held out his hand. Kim suddenly realized that Ron had maneuvered her into position to be invited up onto the stage.

She also was acutely aware that she was there in front of practically the whole city, plus many more from other parts of the state and probably from all over the country, wearing a tiny black dress, black hose and a puffy jacket.

Her cheeks nearly matched her hair.

The rumbling sound came back again, this time more clearly. It wasn't a giant cargo plane, like Ron had suggested earlier, but a quintet of jet fighters, flying in formation overhead. She immediately recognized them as belonging to the small nation she had helped free from a ruthless dictator many years before.

The jets weren't the only thing in the sky that night. Flying slightly lower, a formation of Global Justice hoverjets crossed the path of the fighters.

The mayor rambled on, but she didn't quite hear what he was saying. Looking down at the ground, she locked eyes with Ron.

"Get up here!" She shouted, holding out her hand toward him.

"No way, KP. This is all for you. It's Kim Possible Day! Not Ron Stoppable day!"

She shot him a mock-cross expression "Then get your backside up here, mister. You're a part of me. There wouldn't be a Team Possible without you." She re-extended her hand, taking his and pulling him up onto the stage with all her might.

They took a pair of seats set aside for them on the stage and the parade resumed. The band did another version of the them some, this time with a much more powerful bass section. The cheerleaders tumbled by, doing an approximation of the routines she had designed when she was their captain.

The first float featured a bust of her that somebody had apparently made from an old TV shot. Her hair was flowing behind her and she was wearing her old blue and white battle suit, grinning with fierce determination.

Kim held onto Ron's hand tightly. "This is what you've been planning, isn't it? This is why I thought you were trying to set us up on a mission!"

"Yep. Well, actually, I was thinking about doing that, but I got to talking to Ned about it and he shot the idea right down. He's the one who came up with the idea about having a day in your honor."

"But you're the one who did it. Ron, I really don't know what to say!"

"It wasn't all me. Once I talked to Dr. Director, she kinda took the ball and ran with it." He started to say something else, but Kim reached behind his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. She didn't even care that there were TV crews with cameras there.

"Thank you, Ronnie." She said so softly that he had to read her lips to understand her.

"Anything for you, KP. You deserve it. Oh, you so deserve it!"

* * *

Amethyst took another bite of her corn dog, leaning against a building as she watched the parade go by. Unlike her mistake in Go City, she took the time to actually put on a proper disguise. Stuffing her long brunette hair up into the blond wig was tough, but ultimately worthwhile since it allowed her to watch the festivities, confident that her mother-in-law to be wasn't going to spot her again. It also helped that she was wearing a black turtleneck and olive trousers, like so many other in the crowd were.

_What in the world am I doing,_ she asked herself as she polished the treat off and threw the stick in a trash can. _All it would take is to accidentally bump into her in the crowd, and we'll be at it again! _She didn't have an answer for that. The final stage of her plan didn't require her to be in Middleton at that time, but somehow she just couldn't keep herself from coming.

_It's almost time. Time for my work to be done, time to go back to **my **time, time to go back to my husband, time to tell him that he's going to be a daddy._

Smiling softly to herself, she headed toward another cart to get something to wash the corn dog down.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	46. Chapter 46

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 46**

* * *

Gene finished the last part of his report and hit send, leaning back in his leather office chair. It felt good to be back to work, even if his bosses kept insisting he do the greater part of it from his home. That wasn't so much of a problem, really, since that's where he did most of it anyway, even before his surgery. 

He wanted to be back to it earlier. After all, most of his work was done sitting at a desk and the vast majority of it could be done on a computer. In truth he actually lamented the fact he didn't have as much 'real world' paperwork any more. There was something relaxing about sitting down and working figures on paper. To him, it was far easier finding and reading the notes he had scribbled in pencil rather than chasing down a file, especially since those files tended to have rather cryptic names the software applied to them.

He made do with a pile of multi-colored post-it notes, to the point he almost couldn't see his monitor. It would be worse when the old CRT finally gave up the ghost. Gene didn't mind the new flat panel monitors all that much, except for the fact there was even less room to put his notes! Still, they weren't just a passing fad like he had thought at first and there was already one sitting in the bottom of his closet once the old dinosaur sitting on his desk finally gave out.

Carefully getting up, he turned the knob of his door, peering out into the hallway. Jean was supposed to be out with Catherine buying the toddler new clothes. No matter that they still had tons of Ron's old clothes the girl could wear as her mother was dead-set on dressing her like a girl. Catherine was perfectly happy with the old t-shirts, cargo pants and the like, but Jean liked seeing her in dresses.

Gene shook his head and closed the door just as quietly as he had opened it. He hadn't heard the car pull up, nor the front door open, but he didn't want any surprises. There was just too much at stake. Sitting down at his desk, he pulled the bottom drawer open and pushed some files toward the front, exposing a small, rolled up bag.

They never were as good cold as they were fresh, but he didn't want to be completely denied his favorite treat. Ron could have his Bueno Nacho all he wanted, especially considering what the company liked to pay him, but that wasn't what tingled his particular taste buds. Forget seasoned beef! He wanted a nicely grilled patty resting between two sesame seed buns, with cheddar cheese, bacon strips (kosher? What's that?) and barbecue sauce.

He kept the _Cow and Chow_ bag hidden in his car until it could cool down enough. Sure, if he went to his office he could just eat it fresh and hot, but there was still the chance that one of his co-workers would rat him out to his wife, and he didn't want to hear it from her. He'd been good, now he was ready for a treat.

The bun was still soft, and there was a touch of warmth in the middle. Hopefully the aroma would be long-gone by the time the rest of his family got home, but for a moment, as his teeth sank into the one-third pound burger, he was in heaven. Sure, skinless chicken breast, fish and all sorts of green things weren't all that bad to eat, especially with the 'heart-healthy' seasonings he had learned to enjoy, but there was just something deeply satisfying about chowing down on something that had way more saturated fat in it than nature ever intended.

Halfway through the sandwich, he heard the front door open. Hastily, he wrapped the remains of the burger up, stuffing it in the bag, which was dropped into the drawer. He had a little bit of a moment when he realized his heart was racing. He came out of the surgery feeling better than he had in years, but it still scared him when he could feel the organ pounding in his chest.

Heedless of that, he dashed across the hallway into the bathroom, hastily squirting toothpaste onto the brush. The last thing he wanted was to have a case of onion breath. He mentally counted off the steps his wife would take getting in the house. If they had been shopping, she would first drop her keys off on the hall table, then put her bags down in the kitchen to sort them out before heading up to the office to check on him.

Gene so didn't want to get caught. If he wanted a burger, she could make one for him using ultra-lean beef, with low-fat bread and one of the approved sauces. Cheese was definitely out of the question.

That just wasn't a hamburger in his book.

He rinsed twice, hoping to deaden the peppermint smell slightly. They'd never been the 'affectionate greeting' type, kissing hello whenever one or the other came home, but he wasn't going to take the chance. It was too far past lunch time for him to be brushing his teeth.

His recently repaired heart jumped again when there was a soft knock on the bathroom door. Jean should have still been downstairs carefully laying out her purchases.

"Dad?" A distinctly more masculine voice asked through the door.

Gene grabbed a towel and started wiping his hands. "Ron? I'm in here, just washing my hands. You know, gotta keep the germs at bay!"

His son opened the door and leaned inside. "You okay, Dad? You look a little flushed?"

He set the towel aside. "I'm fine. Just had a rather lengthy conversation with my supervisor on the phone. Now that I'm back to work he thinks I can catch up on four months of back-logged work in just a few hours. I swear, it's like they didn't have any other actuaries on the payroll while I was on leave. Uh, Ron, what are you doing here?"

The younger man just grinned slightly. "I did live here for twenty years, for the most part."

"Sorry, Son, that sounded wrong. What's up? Kim okay?"

"She's fine, aside from her Mom torturing her with the wedding prep. Oh, and mid-terms."

"Shouldn't you be getting ready too? This is your last semester, of course."

"Eh, mine aren't so much stuff you prepare for, at least my culinary school coursework. It's about the wedding."

Gene motioned his Son out of the small bathroom. Having grown up having his own attached to his bedroom, he really didn't go in his parent's all that much, so it felt strange for both of them to be standing there talking. They walked down the stairs into the living room together.

"I hope everything's going alright."

"It's all hakuna, Dad."

He sat down on the couch, his son taking a seat beside him. "So what's the problem?"

"Well, I was thinking, maybe it was time to figure out what I'm going to wear. That way everyone else will be able to get their stuff, but I was driving by Mr. Horowitz's shop and I noticed it was empty."

"Ron, I'm sure you realize Mr. Horowitz wasn't exactly young, and I haven't seen him at Temple for a couple months. Maybe he retired."

"Yeah, I was thinking that, but it would be a shame if he didn't make my tux. He seemed so excited when you had him make the one I wore to the prom."

"If he's taken down his shingle, I'm sure there's somebody else. Don't worry, the wedding's still two and half months away, but if it makes you feel better, I'll call Gerry and ask him. If anyone knows about the old tailor, he would. I think he knows when your Mom picks up a gallon of milk."

"S'ha, he's like Santa sometimes." Ron half-sung, half-rapped a couple lines "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake…"

"It's not that bad, Ron. He just cares about his congregation. You and Kim aren't the only ones he talks to on a regular basis. Sometimes, if it hadn't been for him…and my family of course, I don't think I'd have gotten through the last few months."

"Yeah, he…" Ron paused, looking up and around, sniffing deeply. "Hey, is Mom cooking something for dinner tonight? It sure smells good."

"I'm sure she's going to pick something up for her and Catherine." He tested the air himself. "I don't smell anything. You sure you just don't have a cheese-sauce stain on your clothes?"

"Nah, Kim doesn't like me eating too much BN…especially since she's convinced I'll take after you, but…" He sniffed again. "I'm def picking up on…let's see…ground beef. Yes, beef, grilled, some Wisconsin cheddar…bacon, there's got to be bacon…" Ron's mouth was starting to water. "Wait a minute, Mom doesn't cook bacon." He squinted at his father. "Have you been eating _Cow and Chow?"_

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Dad! Do you know how close we came to losing you? Don't lie to me! I smell food, and my nose is a finely tuned instrument for food."

"No, Son…no!"

"Rufus?" A small pink head popped out of his pocket at the mention of his name. "Bloodhound, Rufus. I want the evidence, but don't eat it!"

Rufus saluted, then dropped to the floor, sniffing around like a hound on the scent. He paused for a moment, staring at the elder Stoppable, then trotted up the stairs, Ron close on his heels.

The office door was still open and normally neither man nor mole rat would cross into that realm uninvited, but more important things were at stake. Rufus stopped at the corner of the desk and pointed like a hunting dog toward the drawer.

Ron pulled out the half eaten sandwich, staring in disappointment at his father. "Dad! How could you?"

"It's not going to hurt me every once and a while. You say it yourself, it sooths the soul."

"Dad, if you want your soul soothed, play some easy-listening music or something." He handed the remains of the sandwich to Rufus, who made quick work of it, taking it down in two bites. "I used to think that all the talk about this stuff being bad for you was just lies being spread by 'the man' but Barkin was right, it shaves years off your life. You're living proof."

"Ron, I don't know if living without occasionally having a little treat like that can really be called living." He belched slightly, immediately undoing his attempt at sweetening his breath.

"Dad, there's a lot of stuff I know how to make now that's filled with tons of fattening stuff that's really bad for you, and it's all seriously Booyah inducing, but the trick is not having so much of it. I just hope you remember how you felt before the operation."

"Son, it's not something I can forget easily."

"Really, cause it seems you're conveniently forgetting when you're in line at Cow and Chow. Look, why don't I sit down with your nutritionist sometime and work our some stuff Mom can make for you that'll sooth your soul…and maybe take a page out of my book. Kim lets me eat a regular Naco every now and then, maybe just a regular little burger, maybe once a week or something won't be so bad, but take it from me, sneaking around is just going to end badly."

"Ron, I know you're right, it's just…when I drive by that place all I can think about is biting into one of those things, feeling the juice running down my cheek, smelling those smells. Oh, I know you're a great cook, but there's just something magical about a cheap burger from there."

"Then get Mom to buy one for herself and take a bite. Please, I won't tell Mom about this, but promise me you'll stop. If not for your sake…"

Gene waved a stubby finger at his son. "Don't play the Catherine card on me. I already said you're right, I'm wrong."

"Promise me, Dad!"

He held up his hands. "Okay, okay, I promise. Now, about your tux. Why don't we drive downtown and see what we can find out."

"Badical. Oh, we'd better take your car. Kim's dropping by when she gets done with her Mom to pick up her car."

The older man nodded. "That's another thing I think we're going to have to fix. I think it's high time you had your own car."

Ron smiled "I think I have some ideas."

* * *

- 

Unlike it's storied predecessor, the new device was large, so large, it took up the entire lab that _Middleton Institute of Technology_ once used for testing weather generating machines. The ring of point singularity generators was over thirty feet across, and it was not designed to fold in on itself when not in use. The powers it would harness were far to great to worry too much about aesthetics this time around, not to mention it was not designed to be portable.

Justine Flanner had changed little over the intervening years. She was still rail thin, though she usually wasn't prone to wearing green coveralls and a cap. They were practical necessities at the time, since she was the one primarily responsible for putting the experiment together.

She wiped some dirt smudged on her cheek with her sleeve, though all that managed to do was to spread it around and grind it in even deeper. In a few days she would make herself more presentable, donning a white lab coat and perhaps slipping in her contacts instead of her glasses. When all was said and done, she might, for once in her life, have time for some kind of personal life, so from time to time she did little things to make herself more attractive.

It wasn't time for that quite yet. The experiment was the culmination of her relatively short life's work, even though she was being forced to share credit for it. One thing her intensive education in physics had not prepared her for was the political workings of the scientific community. Twenty-one year old professors, no matter how radically intelligent they were, did not get the attention necessary to carry on their work without hitching their train to older, more experienced scientists.

That point bothered her much more than she was willing to let on. The vast bulk of the project was based purely on her theoretical work. Not only that, but she had assembled much of the device herself, only calling in others when heavy lifting was required. That good was that she had almost complete control and the quality of the equipment could be closely controlled. The bad; her name would only be on the project as a contributing scientist. If everything worked like the simulations said it would, a bunch of white-haired men old enough to be her grandfather would be taking credit for it.

She hoped that success would finally get her at least enough recognition in the community to start her own projects. There was also the hope that this would only serve to open new doors to scientific discoveries, and not just be an end unto itself.

For years after building her first Kinetic Continuum Disrupter, she strove to find a way to control the doorways she could create in space and time. The possibilities were endless, though very few minds were capable of grasping those concepts like she was.

One of the larger problems she had with the original had been solved. This time there would not be a small tear in reality left behind in a specific point in space. That hadn't even occurred to her then, and it wasn't easily detected since both Earth and the universe itself was in motion, but the point created when the vortex closed remained stationary. Only an accident that occurred over a year later clued her in on the problem.

Then there was the other device that had been put in her hands.

It looked like a carved stone, or at least it did to the naked eye. It was worn and cracked, seemingly being centuries, if not millennia old. Roughly triangular in shape, it appeared to be something unearthed in the deserts of Egypt, or some other culture that had vanished long ago.

Then while somebody was studying it, hoping to decipher the symbols etched on it, the mysterious inner workings of the stone were set in motion. Months later, when it was brought to the institute for study, her heart almost stopped when it was activated again. She had seen the effect before.

So far, even she hadn't been able to unlock the secrets of the mysterious stone itself. All of the tests seemed to indicate it was just a bit of ordinary rock, though the chemical composition was different from most minerals found on Earth. To her, that seemed to indicate it was extra-terrestrial in origin, though that could easily be explained by it being carved from a piece of meteorite.

It was the study of the effects of the device itself that paved the way for her current project. She might not have known how an ordinary rock was capable of opening such a rift, but she knew how to manipulate those energies using technology available to her. That was the entire purpose of the metallic ring occupying the lab.

Granted, it did tweak her that her device was so large, and would suck down so much energy, while all of the same was contained within an object barely twelve inches across.

Sighing, she closed the panel and tried wiping the dirt off her face again, with similar results. Maybe if Global Justice would allow her to use the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer then she could significantly reduce the size of her device, but, at the same time, she recognized how dangerous that item really was and could understand their unwillingness to comply. In fact, if they knew the real scope of what she was going to attempt, they might end up taking a greater hand in the proceedings, if not shutting them down completely.

That couldn't be allowed to happen. Science could not move forward if everyone wanted to bury their heads in the sand. There was a certain amount of risk involved, especially when trying to manipulate the forces she wished to.

She walked out the door, switching off the main lights, leaving a single spotlight on the ring itself. The moment the entry slid shut, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows.

Amethyst studied the ring for a moment. It seemed easier just to destroy it right there and then, but she knew better by that point. If she was going to be successful, she had to prove to the likes of Justine that the path they were pursuing was flawed. If she destroyed the machine, they would simply build another, with the knowledge that somebody else thought they might be on the right track. That meant patience.

She didn't have to be patient about one thing, however. The locks on the safe were no problem for her. Sure, like her mother, she could blast her way into it, but that wasn't the point. Carefully, she worked the combination, using her senses to tell her when the lock was finally open. Once the heavy door swung open, her delicate hands closed on the stone object. It wasn't as heavy as it appeared, but it was still somewhat bulky. Deftly, she dropped it into the back slung over her shoulders.

From the same bag she produced another stone, seemingly identical to the first. Only this one was carved from truly ordinary Arkonian glyph stone, and had not been imbued with the power to open a transit lens. For a moment, she considered going back in time and discovering exactly how they had gotten their hands on it in the first place, but the situation she was hoping to prevent was delicate enough already. Too much mucking around with time was more dangerous to the world than all the weapons known to man.

Nodding to herself, she waved her hand, creating precisely the same lens effect the stone could produce, and stepped through.

* * *

The shop was somewhat nicer than the old one, though it was considerably smaller. The other really looked almost completely abandoned before, and likely had more dust in the carpet than the original fibers. 

Mr. Horowitz, despite his age, was absolutely beaming when the Stoppable men entered his establishment, almost as if creating the formal wear for Ron's wedding was going to be the culmination of his life's work. In fact, he had been holding off on retirement long enough to fulfill his promise four years earlier.

Ron, of course, had about as much fashion sense as the ceramic garden gnome that once haunted his parent's garage, perhaps less so. Every stitch of clothing he had on at that moment had actually been picked out for him by Kim, though she did cave in and let him buy them from Smarty Mart, instead of paying through the nose for essentially the same stuff from Club Banana.

The elderly tailor was accustomed to young men like Ron, so his lack of skill was no problem at all. Ron threw out some terms like 'modern, yet traditional' and basically said he wanted it to be black, and have a cummerbund that would match his yarmulke. The wedding was going to be taking place in a church, but it would largely be a traditional Jewish celebration of their union, so a large number of men at the service would be wearing the skull caps as well, no matter their individual faiths.

They looked at designs, materials, embellishments and even went to far as to get some preliminary sketches on paper. As it turned out, Ron was right on time wanting to get the ball rolling. If he had gone to a modern menswear shop, it was reasonable to expect an off-the-rack, basically tailored tuxedo could be ready in a week, but what he was going to end up with would be completely custom, crafted by hand from the raw fabrics, and that took more time.

Mr. Horowitz was not the only one beaming. Gene almost had a lump in his throat watching the grown man his son had become getting ready for the final step toward being his own man. The fact he wanted his participation in the preparations had utterly nothing to do with that. In fact, it was an even greater mark of maturity and respect. He was proud of what Ronald Eugene had become.

His eyes narrowed slightly. Maybe that lump in his throat was a bit more literal than he thought at first. Leaning against a counter while the other two men had an intense discussion about whether the outfit should have tails or not, he put a fist to his chest. Perhaps Ron had been right after all, and the few bites he had of that burger just weren't sitting well with him.

Neither of them were watching him, so they didn't see the color drain out of his face, or the look of fear that suddenly entered his eyes. It wasn't just a lump, but pain, and it was much lower than just his throat. It seemed to be coming from the middle of his chest, right below where…

…No! That couldn't be happening. Hadn't they 'fixed' him? Despite that knowledge, his life started flashing by, including the moments when he hoped he could be around not only to see his son off to his marriage, but giving away his daughter some twenty plus years later as well.

Both of them looked up when he suddenly went down to one knee.

"Dad!" Ron was at his father's side in an instant.

"Pain…it's, bad." He choked out, grimacing at the intense pressure in his chest.

Ron's mouth hung open for a second, then he reached in his pocket and pulled out his battered old Kimmunicator.

"Wade! Quick, it's Dad!..."

"…give me the number for nine-one-one!"

* * *

a/n – Since this series was started before Season 4 was even a go, the episode "Grande Size Me" never took place in this continuity. Still, I included some details, with the important exception that I think Ron is WAY smarter than he appeared there. At least he should be as he nears the end of culinary school.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	47. Chapter 47

**_KP – The Light at the End_: Part 47**

* * *

Riding in the front passenger seat wasn't quite what Kim was used to. Just like in life as a whole, she preferred to be the one in the driver's seat. Strange, how the way she chose to travel in cars was a metaphor for her whole outlook.

Then again, it was her mother's new _Avenger_ they were riding around in, not her smaller PT Cruiser, and if there were anything Kim had gotten from her mother (besides the red hair) it was a predilection for driving her own car, especially since they had finally traded in the minivan for something more personal.

She was still slightly uncomfortable, especially since they seemed to be sitting still, going about five miles per hour under the posted speed limit.

Of all the places in the world Kim had been, she had never seen that particular stretch of country road. They were only about fifty or so miles from the Tri-City area, but, being deeper in the mountains, the terrain was completely different. Not too far back they had crossed a river that looked like it should have had Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid floating downstream in the rapids.

She looked up at her mother, still resting her chin on her fist, her elbow jammed into the notch between the window and the door. "Mom, where are we going? Please tell me there isn't some obscure caterer out here in the boonies or something."

"No, I just know this little place we can have lunch, just the two of us. You like hot dogs, don't you?"

"Occasionally. That's so more Ron food than something I'd eat on a regular basis."

Anne nodded, smiling softly. "I'm sure he eats his share of them, but this is to a mall hot dog what a pair of boots from Club Banana are to a pair from Smarty Mart." Her grin got a little wider, knowing her daughter was still somewhat of a retail snob and would get the comparison.

"It's still a hot dog, on a bun." She said with an air of boredom. "How much better can it be?"

"You'll see."

"How many more places do we have to go to? We've already been to the dress lady, we've got the invitations ordered, the flowers, all the ribbons and all that stuff."

"Well, if you could actually make up your mind about a dress, maybe we could all sit back and wait the next two months."

"I did make my mind up, until you shot that dress down."

"I just didn't think it was right for you, dear."

"Mom!" Kim let a slight bit of her old whine creep into her voice. "It's _my_ wedding."

They were approaching a crossroads. At first it looked like there was nothing else there besides a gas station, but another structure came into focus as they got closer. Kim's eyebrow shot up when she realized just what the tiny concrete building was supposed to be.

"You mean to tell me we've been riding in this car for over an hour just to go to a hotdog stand that's shaped like a giant hot dog?"

"I told you they're good, and they'll fix them up just the way you want to, even Southern style." Anne actually licked her chops. Having lived in the Southeast during her early childhood, she sometimes missed some of the old regional favorites.

"Like I said, a hot dog on a bun, maybe a bit of mustard on it, what's the big?"

"Oh, you haven't had anything until you've had one with chili, slaw, mustard and onions."

Kim stuck her tongue out slightly. "More like I haven't had heartburn. Is Dad even going to kiss you after eating something like that?"

"I come prepared." She shook a small metal tin of strong peppermints that was sitting in the tray between the seats. "Now, that dress…I hate to say this, but it looked like something your friend Monique would design."

"Yeah, that's why I liked it."

"Honey, I like her, but her ideas are a little…young, wouldn't you say?"

Kim crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Club Banana is putting her through design school, she has to appeal to their customers. Besides, the last time you saw her work, she _was_ young, and I've got enough people trying to tell me I'm awfully young to be getting married."

"If we were talking about two people besides you and Ronald, I'd say they were right, but that's something you have to be sure about, not everyone else. Honestly, have you gotten that from anyone who actually matters?"

"No. Mostly friends at school, and people who still seem to think I'm perpetually sixteen years old. It's like when I saved the world from Drakken's robots is permanently frozen in everyone's minds."

Anne put the car in park and gave her child an appraising eye. "The way people perceive you is always going to be different than reality. That's one of the reasons your father sometimes had trouble with the two of you sharing a room when you were younger. He knew he could trust the two of you, but he was at the same time worried what other people would think. Contrary to what you might believe, your father does have friends and colleagues, even superiors who might have gotten the wrong impression about the two of you. Couple that with the fact that, yes, when you were in the public eye, most people do still think of you as a teenager. Not everyone has seen you grow up like your father and I have. It also doesn't help that you don't look much different than you did then."

"I'm taller." Kim replied, a little defensively.

"Honey, one inch in five years isn't exactly going to show up, especially since Ronald grew so much."

"I still think that dress would have been spankin."

"Hmmm. Maybe, if you were Bonnie Rockwaller."

"Gee, thanks Mom." She looked down, considering her chest. "Maybe if I got one of those new bras from _Alexandria's Confession_."

"I think you've spent more than enough money in that place…unless you wanted something special…for the honeymoon, if you'll be wearing anything at all." She added a wink at the last before getting out of the car.

As isolated as the stand seemed, there were plenty of people waiting in line for it, which surprised Kim, since she still didn't see what could be so special about hot dogs. It couldn't possibly be anything like the ones they had when Mego and Bonnie took them to that place for dinner in Go City. Then again, it wasn't even clear if there was actually a sausage under all those toppings and peppers.

The weather wasn't helping Kim's mood either. Even though it was mid-spring, winter was still not quite ready to give up completely on that part of Colorado, and the fine mist coming down only served to make matters worse. On top of all that, something was tweaking the back of her mind, as if there was something wrong with the universe itself, or that there was something important she was forgetting. The fact alone that she couldn't put her finger on the feeling was the worst of all.

"I was thinking about Mortimer's for the catering." Anne said idly, looking back at the car and considering whether she should get an umbrella out. The sky seemed to threaten more than the pall of moisture hanging in the air. Ten degrees cooler and there would have been a danger of flurries.

Ten degrees or twenty, Kim was cold, hugging her fitted denim jacket to her body, wishing she had on something heavier. How was this place even in the same state as Middleton, let alone being as close as it was?

"Mom, I think when we get back to town, we should go and have her start on that dress." She rubbed her arms, trying to fight off a cold that seemed to cut through the relatively thin fabric.

"No, like I said, honey, it's just not right for you."

Kim stamped her foot. It was more of an attempt to fool herself into thinking she was getting warmer, but it came off like she was literally putting her foot down. "Mom, that's…that's it. I'm the one getting married, and I don't care if I have to pay for the dress myself, that's the dress I'm walking down the aisle in. I'm sorry, but I've had it with the arguing. It's either that one, or I'm flying to Vegas this weekend and eloping with Ron."

Anne scowled at her daughter. "If that's what you want, fine. It doesn't matter if I think it's a tacky…"

"It's not tacky. Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'm not you! I like different things and I _am _younger!"

"No."

Kim stood there for a moment, just looking at her mother. "What do you mean…no?"

"No as in I'm saying no. That dress is completely out of the question. Yes, you're younger, Kimmie. That means I'm older, and I think somewhat wiser than you. If you want to be that way, fine, I can be just as stubborn."

The younger Possible was utterly dumbfounded. "I can't believe I'm hearing this. What part of I'm twenty-one and out on my own don't you understand?"

"I understand that you're still part of this family, whether you live half an hour away in a tiny apartment or whether you're still living upstairs at home, and like it or not, this wedding is a family thing."

"But…I'm the bride!"

"Yes, and I'm your mother. Much as I'm loath to say it, I do know what's best for you, even if you don't."

"I…you…I so can't believe you just said that. Do you know how ferociously wrong I was every time I did?"

"Yes, but that's because you had to learn a few lessons. Now, be honest with me Kimmie, this isn't about just the dress, is it? Something else is bothering you."

"Well, let's see, I've got my thesis to wrap up, I've got mid-terms about to jump all over me, I'm being dragged out into the hills to eat fair food and I've got a mother who's sticking her nose too deep into my business." She rattled off, getting angrier with each word.

"I am _not_ sticking my nose into your business. If that were true, you'd probably be in medical school now instead of this _International Relations_ whatever the heck it is you're majoring in. If that were true, I'd be worried whether you were up-to-date on your meds, or I'd be insisting you move back home until the wedding. There's a lot of things that we've let go about."

"Then what's the deal with the dress? Ron's already going to get his tux made and I don't even have a pattern picked out. It's not like I'm turning into Bride-zilla, it's just a stinkin' dress."

"Alright, we'll drive straight back to town after lunch and we'll pick something else out, but not that one, okay. Please, trust me. I'm your mother."

Kim seemed to shrink in on herself. "Fine. I really liked that one, though." She added under her breath.

Anne reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. "That's funny."

"What?" Kim asked, still fuming.

"I was going to call the dress shop, but I'm not getting a signal."

Kim shot her a sideways look. "Guess that's what you get driving out here in the sticks."

"No." She pointed over Kim's shoulder. It only took her a moment to pick out the ubiquitous cellular tower among the tree-tops. "I've been out here before and I've had a perfectly good signal. What about your thing?"

"My Kimmunicator? I don't have it with me."

Anne seemed genuinely shocked. "Really? What if Wade needed to reach you."

"Hello, leave of absence. If something bad happens he's going to call Joss or the Tweebs. If he's got a four-one-one on a sitch, it can wait until I get home."

"What about your cell-phone? Maybe something is wrong with mine, I've been meaning to trade it in."

Kim pulled hers out. "Sorry, no signal either. Maybe the power's out to that tower or something. It's no big, Mom, we'll pick up the next one once we're driving back, if we ever get through this line."

As she said that, they finally stepped inside the small structure. The smells of cooking wieners and other accoutrements made her suddenly realize how hungry she actually was.

Maybe a southern slaw-dog wouldn't be so bad after all.

"I thought your cell had a build in Kimmunicator." Anne wasn't quite ready to give up.

"Sort of. It's an emergency thing. Something to do with draining the batteries too fast since they went to these credit-card sized phones. Wade is supposed to be working on it, but I think he's leaning more toward putting all the functions of my original in one of the wrist-units."

"That would be a nice thing to have right about now. Certainly beats strapping a cell-phone to my wrist."

Kim snickered slightly, putting her hand over her mouth.

"You seem to be getting into a better mood. What's so funny?"

"I don't know, I just had this notion you said it beats strapping a monkey to your wrist."

"A monkey? Honey, I never thought I'd say this, but maybe you iare/i spending too much time with Ronald. Honestly, I thought he was over his monkey-on-the-brain thing."

Kim smiled slightly, slipping the phone into her pants pocket. "He is, or at least as long as Monkey Fist is behaving himself."

"It's been a long time since you've heard from him. Maybe he's settled down with that woman he married."

"Dunno. GJ is keeping tabs on him, just in case, but I really haven't followed up on him since that run-in over a year ago."

Kim turned her attention back to the menu board as he mother gave her order. Maybe she would try the slaw dog. Anything would be better than what a small, tow-headed youngster ahead of them got. Southern or Go City style dogs were one thing, but ketchup and mayonnaise on a hot dog seemed like an abomination.

"Can I take your order, miss?" The guy behind the counter finally asked.

"I'll…" She suddenly laughed.

"Miss?"

"Sorry…phone set on vibrate…tickles." She choked out, struggling to get the slim unit back out of her pocket. "Just a sec." Much as she was loath to step out of line, there were people waiting behind her, so she decided to let them pass while she took the call.

Her smile vanished when she realized it wasn't a phone-call at all, but Wade remotely activating the Kimmunicator function. That meant something was wrong, wrong enough that he had already bypassed both her cousin and her brothers.

"Go, Wade." She said, opening the phone so the screen was visible.

"Kim, you'd better get back. It's Ron's Dad!"

"What? Is he okay? What happened?" she waved at her mother to get her attention.

"I don't know yet. They just took him to the medical center. Apparently he's having severe chest pains." The look on the tall, heavyset teen's face said it all. It was bad.

"I'm on my way. Tell Ron…just tell him I'm coming." She closed the phone and grabbed her mother's arm. "We've got to go, now!"

"I heard what he said. Honey, I know he's been through a lot, but there are still many things that could go…"

"I know that Mom." They hit the parking lot, Kim heading straight for the driver's side.

"This time, I'm driving." She said, waiting for her mother to hit the keyless entry.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	48. Chapter 48

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 48**

* * *

Kim was told to wait.

She didn't like waiting. She was a woman of action. Waiting was something that was done when they were on their way to a mission. Even that was a sort of action. It meant they were doing all they could to get there as quickly as possible. It was a time for centering herself and preparing for what was to come, and over the last few years it had become some of her best quality time with Ron.

Trying to put herself into "Mission Mode" didn't seem to help either. Oh, she was in high gear racing back to Middleton in her mother's car, but once she was through the doors of the hospital, everyone told her to take a seat in the waiting area and put it to it's central purpose.

Waiting.

Even her mother told her the same thing. It was driving her crazy, not knowing what was going on. She hadn't even seen Ron since she got there. Presumably he was with his father, though nobody around her seemed to know if that was the case or not. Their cell phones and even her Kimmunicator had winked out again, so there was no way to find out anything that way, so her mother had simply disappeared to find out on her own what was happening.

That left Kim alone with a group of strangers in the Emergency Room waiting area. She could only imagine what they other people there might be going through, whether they were the injured or sick waiting while more pressing needs were attended to, or the loved ones of those who had those more urgent needs. Absently, she thought that maybe it might help to find out what their needs were, but she couldn't get her mind to focus on that. Kim had to settle for the fact that they were at least where the professionals could help them properly.

Horrible images of what might have happened filled her mind. Surgery was as much an art as it was a science, and there were all sorts of things that could go wrong. Leaky sutures, infections, other non-related illnesses creating complications. It didn't help that Gene Stoppable wasn't in the best shape or health even before his heart crisis, and that did nothing to ease her mind as she sat in the uncomfortable chair, leaning on her fist, wishing there were something she could do, even if it was to just be there holding her soon-to-be father's-in law hand.

It hadn't been that long, it seemed, since Ron's father had been something of a mystery to her. She never spent all that much time around his parents, even though she had seen her lover and fiancé almost every day since she was four. That bothered her immensely, even though there was nothing to be done about it. They were always pretty much hands-off parents, distant from their then only child as well, leading him to latch onto her family much more than his own.

Maybe they realized their error late in their lives. At least the turnaround hadn't come too late for Gene and Ron. Even upon moving out, he had become so much closer with his father, to the point that the current crisis seemed almost cruel beyond words. What was worse was that they were finally ready to take the next step in their own lives. The wedding was almost three months away, graduation from college even closer than that. This was the time of life his parents should be celebrating, not looking toward a sadder end.

Fitfully, she tried banishing that thought from her head. Gene was too strong a man to let this happen to himself. He would be their for their graduation, he would be there for his wedding. He would be there when they presented him with his first grandchild. He would even be there to walk his daughter down the aisle some day.

That made her wonder where CJ was. The short time they had taken care of the toddler had really had an impact on her. It was easy enough to think of the little blond girl as her own, especially as much as she looked like her older brother, freckles and all. Maybe she was with her mother. Jean was a strong woman herself, but the stress of the last few months was telling on her. She went from looking ten years younger than her fifty one years to ten years older overnight. Coupled with having a three-year old daughter to raise, her husband's illness was really getting to her.

Kim often told herself that she wanted to wait a few years before she started having children with Ron, but back when Jean finally found herself pregnant with her second child, she had asked the two of them if they would be her godparents. That was more than just an honor, that was a sacred obligation, that they would care for her as if she were their own if something ever happened to them.

Just like what was happening right there and then.

It was strange forcing her mind to think. Normally Kim was the ultimate multi-tasker, but try as she might, she kept coming back to Ron's father. There was still so much that needed to be done, like preparing for the final finals, preparing the end stages of her thesis, nailing down the details her mother was after her about the wedding and even the current, unresolved 'mission' she found herself still on.

Almost out of the blue, a smile crept across her face as a woman and her child appeared walking down the corridor. Strange that only a few short years ago, the sight of that woman would have had her springing into action. Stranger still that she now knew her by a completely different name, as if she were as different a person as she looked with normal skin and brown eyes.

"Aunt Kimmie!" The little girl squealed, running up to her with her arms wide for a hug.

Kim arched an eyebrow, looking at her former nemesis. "So I'm an aunt now?"

"Looks that way, Princess. Get used to it, she thinks everyone is family."

"Thas wha Daddy calls ya." Amethyst said as Kim scooped her up into her lap.

"I wonder where you got the Kimmie part." Kim added dryly, still grinning at Sherry. Then it occurred to her where and when she was seeing the two of them. "Everything's okay, isn't it?"

"Just peachy, Cupcake. Your mama still gets after me to make sure she gets her checkups regularly, even though she hasn't been sick a day of her life. It was booster shot time."

Amethyst made a face, rubbing her rump. "I don't like boos-er time. That hurt."

"I bet it did."

"What about you, Kimmie. You look like you've been run over by a truck, and I gotta say, the look doesn't work on you." Sherry sat down across from her, watching as her daughter marveled at Kim's red hair.

"It's Ron's Dad."

"Oh. The heart thing?"

Kim nodded. "At least I think so. All I got was the message that he was taken to the emergency room, before the phones all went dead."

Sherry pulled her own phone out of a cargo pocket on her pants. "Yeah, been wondering about that. Drakken was supposed to call me an hour ago, but I haven't been able to get a signal. Thought it might have been something about hospitals not letting you use cell phones."

Kim glared lightly at her. "You're not supposed to use them because they interfere with the medical equipment, you're not even supposed to have it turned on. But no, I really don't know what's happening. Ron and his Dad have been back there since before I got here and I haven't heard a peep out of them since."

"Geez, that sucks, Princess. Hope the old guy pulls through."

"Still sounds funny coming from you."

"Feels funny saying it, but I'm being honest. Haven't got anything against the old man, and what's past is past. You're both something like friends now and I don't want to see you hurt like that."

"Thank you, Sherry. That means a lot coming from you." Kim grinned a the little girl in her lap, despite her worry. Even though there had been plenty of times he mother had tried to kill her in battle, there was something that made Kim feel good, deep inside every time she saw her. Maybe it was the simple fact that she was the primary reason she now called Shego by her real name.

"She never gets sick?" She asked, brushing her long brunette hair with her hand.

Sherry shook her head, making her own raven locks swing back and forth. "Not a sniffle, never has spit up, never cried much, no earaches. Heck, she doesn't even get the normal bumps and bruises a toddler should, and she's active enough."

"Hmm. Amethyst…"

"Ammie!"

"Okay, Ammie…have you ever seen this woman?" Kim wondered for a moment if the picture would come up with the Kimmunicator offline, but apparently it had been stored in its internal memory.

Sherry leaned over looking at the picture. "So, that's why you came a knocking wondering if that was me. Sorry, Princess, but wild horses aren't going to get me to re-color my hair that way, and I'll leave wearing a purple Team Go suit, if that's even what that thing she's wearing is, to my little brother. Pretty girl, though. Almost like what I'd expect Ammie to grow up like."

"You know, I see it too. Kinda strange, if you ask me that she'd go to some kind of lengths to look like you, but stopped at hair color. It's easy enough to dye your hair black."

The older woman just fluffed her hair slightly, smiling wickedly. "Not too easy getting it to shine like the real thing. You can always spot a fake, like your highlights."

Kim's smile faded. "I don't touch the color of my hair, my highlights are perfectly natural."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Cupcake. Somebody doth protest a bit too much. Anyhoo, why would Ammie have seen her?"

"That's me!" The child chirped happily, pointing at the close-up on Kim's old handheld.

"No, I think you've got a whole lot of growing to do first, sweetie." She turned her attention back to Sherry. "Just something weird that happened a while back. Ron and I…and even his little sister…got a really bad case of the flu. I mean, land us in bed unable to move sick. Then I had a dream where I saw her," She indicated the photo, "and the next morning I was fine."

"So you just had a nasty twenty-four hour bug." Sherry shrugged.

"I don't think so. The same thing happened to Ron. Almost blew that off, since we've had the same dreams before."

"Oh, that's so sweet." She made a fake gagging motion.

"It will be if you ever get to that point with the guy you're dating now." Kim watched her for a moment to see if Sherry's reaction would indicate whether she was actually with the guy. Nothing changed in her 'sort-of' friend's face. "No, I was just figuring it was a coincidence until the very same thing happened to CJ."

"Lemme guess, Stoppable even calls his sister by her initials?"

"Uh, yeah, we both do. Only her parents call her Catherine. I think she was actually there, in our apartment somehow, and she had something to do with all of us suddenly getting better."

"So, Kimmie, let me get this straight. You're chasing some bad-girl, can't catch her to save your life…"

"You're loving that part, aren't you?"

"There's a certain bit of irony there, I think, but anyway, you actually think a villain is going to go out of her way to save you and Stoppable and the buffoonette from a case of the sniffles? Oh, come on, Kimmie, I gave you a lot more credit than that. You just had a bad dream, probably from a fever."

"Maybe. I'm just thinking that maybe, if that's actually how this woman looks, then there might be some connection to Ammie, that's all." She let the little girl down, who ran straight to her mother.

"Everything else okay with her?"

"Eh, the doctor says she's kinda small for her age, which is surprising considering me and her father."

"Daddy's blue!" Ammie piped up, tugging on a lock of her mother's hair.

Kim just raised an eyebrow, but kept her mouth shut when she realized the look Sherry was sending her said she didn't want the child to think any differently. For half a moment she wondered if Drakken could actually be the 'mystery guy' in question, but she quickly doused that line of thought as being beyond the realm of possibility.

Sherry stood, holding her daughter in her arms. "I'd better roll. We're supposed to meet Drakken at _Mr Fudgies_ for ice cream, if he actually thought to head over there since the phones are out."

Kim actually laughed. "The thought of you two meeting at an ice cream place like two normal people, that's ferociously twilight zone material."

"Oh, hah hah. We may be former villains, but we're still people, and Dr D has to go through a bunch just to show his face in public, since he can't change colors like I do. We're trying to be as normal as we can be, to fit in and all, without holing up in that cabin all the time."

"Sorry. Guess I'm still not used to you two playing house and all, though I suppose it's good for Ammie."

"And don't you ever forget it. Say goodbye, Ammie."

Ammie held out a little hand, waving. "Bye, Aunt Kimmie!"

Kim slumped back down in the chair, all the thoughts about Gene's predicament flooding back to her the moment the two were out of sight. Her backside hadn't fully settled into the cushion before she made up her mind she wasn't going to sit there waiting any longer.

Time for some action!

Striding up to the desk, her confidence flaring, Kim got the attention of the nurse sitting there. "What room is Gene Stoppable in?"

The woman looked up at her with an expression that was somewhere between 'whatever' and mild annoyance. She tapped on her computer screen a couple times. "Stoppable's in…station four…but you can't go back there right now."

Kim wasn't listening. She'd already turned on her heels and was reading the numbers on the sliding glass doors that made up the fronts of each station. If the nurse was doing anything to stop her, she had no idea. She spotted the indicated number in short order. There were several people clustered around the exam table, but she couldn't see Ron's father, or Ron for that matter. She hadn't been more than fifty feet away from them the whole time, but couldn't see them because it was around a corner.

A large hand came to rest on her shoulder, making her jump slightly as she reached for the door. She turned, her eyes locking with a pair of chocolate brown orbs. Only they were lower than she was expecting.

Her eyes shot wide. "GENE! What…what are you doing…who's?"

"Relax, Kimberly. Turned out I just had a really bad case of heartburn. I just got done with the paperwork." He tapped his chest. "The old ticker is fine, they just took their own sweet time making darn good and sure. That'll teach me next time to eat a cold cheeseburger."

"Then who…what?"

"Oh, that's Ron in there."

"Ron!?! What?"

"Oh, he's okay. He just started hyperventilating so they're giving him oxygen. I guess they're not used to having somebody who isn't the patient passing out on them…or Ron."

Kim suddenly grabbed him into a ferocious hug. "Don't do that!"

"I'm afraid it's a necessary precaution. Once the doctor figured out what was really wrong with me, he kept repeating that we did the right thing in coming here. If it had been my heart…"

Letting go of him, she opened the door. Ron caught her eyes and tried getting up, only to be forced back down by the nurse. "Hey KP" he mouthed through the mask.

"I'm sorry, miss, but you're…"

Kim held up a hand. "No, he's my fiancé."

The nurse eyed her a moment, then relented.

"Ronnie?" She wrapped her hand around his, then looked at the attending physician.

He nodded. "I think he's okay, just got a little over-excited."

"That's my guy." Kim said.

Ron finally sat up, pulling the mask off. "I'm fine, not like this hasn't happened before."

"I'd still like to run a few tests, make sure your blood sugar is in order." The doctor said.

Ron shook his head. "Nah, that's all been done before."

Kim tightened her grip on his hand. "Don't you dare do that on our wedding day, Baby."

"Maybe that night." He grinned.

The doctor and the two nurses looked at each other. "He's fine."

Kim helped him get off the exam table. "Let's get you home. I've had enough stress for one day, and I've still got to work on my thesis presentation, and you've got…"

"Shhh, KP. For right now, let's not worry about school and our wedding, or all that other stuff. I spent the better part of the day thinking I wasn't going to have a Dad much longer."

Kim nodded. "Okay. Are we done here?"

"I guess so. Just make sure to mention this to his regular physician."

Not letting go of Ron's hand, Kim led him out. "Oh, he's aware."

Back out in the corridor, just about everyone in the family who had gotten to the medical center had gathered around Gene. He was already holding CJ, looking like nothing had happened to him that day. Almost immediately, Ron wrapped his arms around his father in a crushing hug.

"Ack, it's okay, Ronald, but I'm not going to be if you end up cracking some ribs." He said, adjusting his hold on his daughter, who was busying herself playing with his five-o'clock shadow. "I think I've learned my lesson this time out. Nothing like imagining yourself going toward the light to put things into perspective. Or holding this precious little girl."

Kim joined in the hug, followed by Jean and her mother.

Kim looked at the taller redhead. Perspective, that's what she needed.

"Mom, I think we need to get going. There still should be time."

"Time for what, Kimmie?"

"You'll see." She smiled, holding the small cluster of her family tighter.

"There goes the rib." Gene muttered.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	49. Chapter 49

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 49**

* * *

Some time around seven that evening, Kim finally gave up shifting the position of her bottom. It just seemed that, if she was going to spend the evening with Ron _and_ work on her report, she was going to have to settle for sitting on the floor at the coffee table, typing on her laptop while he sat on the couch, idly brushing her hair from time to time with his fingertips. Every so often she would either look back at him, or lean her head against his knee to make sure he wasn't dozing off. Each time she caught his eyes, he'd grin slightly, then turn his attention back to the television, listening with a pair of wireless headphones so he wouldn't disturb her work.

The last few weeks had been dizzying for both of them, so she wasn't about to get after him for taking a moment for himself. He hadn't even taken off his chef's jacket after coming home from his classes, and he still had the slight aroma of garlic and other spices about him. She didn't mind in the least, especially since he brought home a portion of his 'classwork' for dinner that night. Somehow she suspected that, as the final semester wound down, they were doing more 'playing' with their food than anything really substantive. For him, the hard part of his core curriculum was done, and the remaining busy work was in his non-related courses. Ron still had a paper for his senior-level history class, but that would have to wait until he had some private time so he could actually do the writing, and she was loath to give him up for that since he still had time.

It wasn't just their classwork that was occupying her time. With their wedding not quite two months away, Kim's Mom had gone into overdrive with her preparations. At first she thought that, by surrendering to the elder redhead's plans, things would go much more smoothly, but they hadn't. The two had duked it out that very afternoon using every variation of their vaunted Puppy-Dog-Pout they could muster, all over floral arrangements that would likely not even be assembled until the day before the service itself.

The service. Just thinking about it made her stop typing for a moment and click save. Pastor Grayson and Rabbi Katz were certainly on board for the mixed-faith ceremony they had planned, but somehow that wasn't sitting perfectly well with members of either of their families. The worst turned out, as expected, to be Ron's great aunts. They had breezed into town, completely unannounced, and had shown up on her doorstep after collecting Ron's mother.

Kim had been fortunate not to actually see the two women in over three years. That was perfectly fine with her, especially how they treated her, and how they tried bullying Ron into breaking up with her, simply because she was not Jewish. Of all his colorful family, they were the only ones to actually even bring that fact up, and that bothered her more than she thought it actually would. Ron was absolutely devoted to her, to the point he would lay down his life without question, just like she would for him, but he was also devoted to his family, and he would a least respect the opinion of his elders, even if he didn't agree with it.

The surprise 'inspection' of their home didn't go all that well. For one, it had been a couple weeks since Kim's Mom had shown up to help with the house cleaning. Neither of them were especially bad at it. In fact, Ron demonstrated a surprising talent for being a 'house-husband,' but that didn't take into account his natural laziness. The place was clean in a technical sense, but rooms they didn't use pretty much didn't get any special attention.

The very thing Jean Stoppable's aunts noticed was the other bedroom, ostensibly "Kim's" hadn't been used, or even dusted in some time. It actually had been a while since they even bothered to maintain the fiction they were merely roommates, so the thought hadn't even occurred to them. To make matters worse, the two aging harpies trooped right into their real bedroom, as if they owned the place, discovering that most horrible of cardinal sins.

The bed wasn't made.

She could only imagine what the two must have said to Ron's mother on their way back to her house after they left. At least they didn't bring up her religion during their visit, focusing more on the fact they were already living as if they were married. She also hoped they hadn't seen her snatch up the sheer nightie that had been lying on the floor of their room. If they had, that would have been just more fuel for the fire.

That night, the two of them were pretty much ordered to attend a family dinner with them. That was when their disparate religions came into play. First off, they were utterly dismayed that they weren't planning on having the ceremony at Rabbi Katz' temple. It didn't matter at all that having it at Kim's church was the Rabbi's own idea and suggestion, it just wasn't proper that a nice Jewish boy like Ron (a status they certainly didn't give him on their last meeting since he wouldn't call it quits with her then) wasn't going to stand under the _Chuppah_ with her at a proper Temple, or outside as their customs also allowed.

Kim's dander started getting up at that point. Outside weddings were pretty and nice, but they didn't sit right with her for some reason. She wanted hers to be at either of their places of worship, she really didn't care which. It was her wish that they would be standing on consecrated ground when they exchanged their vows before God and their families. Once she stood her ground on that fact, they backed down a little.

Especially since the ceremony itself was going to be traditional Jewish. They would have the Chuppah, a cloth suspended above them as they said their vows and they would smash a glass wrapped in cloth. Then men in attendance would be asked to wear yarmulkes, and at least part of the ceremony would be in Hebrew, a language even Ron had trouble with, despite being exposed to it throughout his life.

"Nickel for your thoughts, KP." Ron said, putting his headphones aside.

"A nickel? Ron, isn't it supposed to be a penny?"

"Eh, inflation."

Kim rolled her eyes. Saving her file, she carefully closed the laptop and stood up, stretching toward the ceiling before sitting back down in his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Oh, just thinking about standing in line at the DMV to change my name."

"Uh, can't you just do that online?"

She crinkled her nose slightly. "Maybe, I guess. Just seems like it'll feel more real if I do it in person. What do you think? Kimberly Anne Possible-Stoppable?"

It was Ron's turn to turn up his nose. "A hyphenated name?"

"You do know I'm going to be called Possible for years to come, don't you?"

"S'ha! Not like I'm going to start calling you KPS or anything."

Kim curled a little closer to him, running a finger down his nose. "Maybe I'll just pass on the whole changing my name thing and stick with Kim Possible."

"Works for me." He nuzzled her behind her each, gently brushing her cheek with his lips.

"So not. Baby, I'm taking your name."

"Maybe I'll take your name myself, KP. I could be 'Ron Possible'!"

"Or Ron Stoppable-Possible."

"Yeah, I like that."

She turned her head so she could give him a gentle, lingering kiss. "Uh, no. I'm all for being and 'empowered woman' and such, but when it comes to our names, I'll stick to tradition, please and thank you." Kim gave him another quick peck. "I'm just kidding, Ronnie. I'm going to be just plain Kim Stoppable this July. I'll probably get Kimberly Anne Stoppable put on my license. Baby, I love you, and one of the ways I'm going to let the world know it is by taking your name and making sure I tell everyone."

"Can I still call you KP?" Ron put both hands on her waist, kneading very slightly, getting a pretty good idea where the conversation was likely to lead, which most definitely meant he was not going to see the end of the program he was watching.

"I'll show you all sixteen kinds of kung-fu if you don't."

"Yes…dear." He added, with mock contrition.

Kim settled her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes. "You know what I'd like to do, the moment we take off our graduation robes?"

A sly grin spread across his freckled face. "Is it anything like what I think you're leading to right now?"

Cracking one eye open, she smirked at him. "No. We'll have all week on our abbreviated version of our annual road trip to do that. Well, probably…most likely once we get free from the fam and the party they're likely to throw for us, but that's not what I'm talking about. I was thinking we could both slip into something more comfortable once we get back here."

"Uh, I'm not quite following, Kim. Sounds like we are talking about the same thing."

"So not. I'm talking about slipping into a nice, snug black crop-top, some olive high-tech tights, strapping my grappler to my hip and heading out on a real, honest to goodness mission. For once, after these last few months, we won't have an excuse that it'll take away from time for us to be doing more important things."

"I knew you still wanted to go on missions."

"Well duh. It's part of who I am, and I don't mean necessarily something dangerous, I mean helping people, doing some real good."

Ron shrugged. "Be just our luck it'll be a slow day and we'll just end up rescuing a cat from a tree."

Kim snorted slightly. "Not exactly a slow day where you're concerned. You haven't exactly had the best luck when it comes to cats."

"KP, I told you, that fat calico was evil, evil I tell you!"

"Amp down, Ron. I get it. She was even more evil and twisted than Sherry's cat."

Ron actually shuddered slightly at the mention of the fluffy black Maine coon.

"Furball has reason to hate you."

"…yeah, and I've got reason to hate her. It took more than a month for my hair to grow back."

"So not the drama, baby. You looked good with a buzz-cut. Maybe you could stand to get one again since it's getting hot outside again."

Licking his fingers, Ron slicked his hair back over his head. Unfortunately, he'd gotten it cut only a couple days earlier, and it wasn't about to obey his wishes, popping back into ragged bangs the moment his hand left his scalp. "Nah, this look works for me."

"Essential Ronness?"

"You know it, babe!"

Kim rolled her eyes once more, shaking her head slightly, then leaned in for a much longer, more passionate kiss. He wagged his eyebrows, then returned the favor, his hands exploring a little more actively, touching the hem of her denim mini-skirt.

She swatted his hand away playfully. "You still didn't say what you think of my idea."

"It's a badical idea KP. I miss going on missions with you too." He narrowed his eyes, grinning hungrily. "Like those missions where we're in the back of a plane for hours at a time. You know, the ones where we've got those sleeping bags, and pilots who like to stay up in the front for the entire flight?"

"How romantic." She said dryly. "Why don't we turn in early…maybe even pretend our walk-in closet is the back of one of those planes and spread out the sleeping bags?"

"Booyah." He replied softly, arching both eyebrows once more.

* * *

Justine used a bandana to wipe the sweat off her forehead as she crawled out from under the main particle accelerator of her portal generator. She regarded the component in her other hand with a mixture of triumph and disgust. The former was because she was finally able to track the problem down, the latter because of what it actually meant, both to her and to her project.

"Just like I said, Lenny. The problem wasn't in any of the theoretical work. It's right here in the equipment."

Lenny was much like her, and not only because he was lean, bordering on emaciated. He pushed his glasses back on his head and squatted down where she was sitting, eyeing the small bit of electronics with wires protruding at all angles. The real difference between him and the young researcher was that he would rather be at the "Robot Rumble" with her, sending his creations into combat, hopefully impressing her enough they could start calling such nights out an actual date.

"I thought you put the load compensator in yourself?" He took it from her, trying to divine exactly what she was seeing in the partially carbonized object. To him it looked like it simply burned out.

"I did, and I tested it, repeatedly before we did the first live test with the generator. It was fine. It should have stayed fine."

He shrugged, handing it back to her and shifting his weight onto his backside so he was sitting across from her. "So, maybe it was faulty?"

Justine shook her head. "This isn't supposed to happen. It's not attached to any current strong enough to burn it out like this, and even if it was, it would have just stopped working, shutting the whole system down once the fail-safes kicked in. No, this was done to it."

"Huh? I'm not following."

"What I'm saying is, somebody reconnected it to the main power feed, and cut the lines to the fail-safe. Lenny, the generator was sabotaged…deliberately."

"Whoa, hold on there. Why on Earth would anyone want to sabotage the system? If some of the other departments wanted to pull a prank, they'd just do something like coat your keyboard with invisible adhesive, or something juvenile like this. What you're talking about…it's criminal."

"Lenny, sometimes you can be so naïve. In this line of work, you've always got people who think they can get ahead by knocking down everyone around them. They certainly made me look like an idiot. Professor Allenford is still trying to dodge questions about all the side-effects the test had."

Leaning back on his palms, he just shook his head. "That was still pretty funny, knocking out RF communications like that. Teach all these people with cell phones permanently attached to their heads a thing or two."

"It's a lot worse than that. We managed to take out almost every cell phone, wireless router, just about anything that runs on a radio frequency signal for hours until we were able to close the portal we opened. If the FCC got wind of what happened, they'd shut us down for good."

He nodded toward the blackened component. "You think, based on what you've found, they'll even let us go forward with this?"

"Like I said. The theoretical work is sound. We just need to fix the generator and this time we'll get extra security. Allenford has too much riding on this. He's an old guy, and he needs a solid success to keep his department…my department funded. If this project fails, so does he, and the board isn't going to let him have a second chance."

He considered her for a moment. "You know, it sounds a whole lot to me like you're just as eager to get this going as he is."

"Well duh. I may just be twenty-two, but this represents what amounts to my life's work. Allenford may be the team lead, but I'm the one who stands to gain the most from this. He can retire, and I'll be the one picked up to continue this line of research…

"…not to mention how cool it will be to actually open a stable doorway to another dimension. Not only that, but if my figures are correct, we could use it to cut across space without having to even worry about space craft. Imagine just stepping through the portal like stepping into a pool, and instantly being on the far side of the galaxy. Lenny, we're not talking about just a career making discovery, we're talking about something that could fundamentally change the universe."

"Do you know how hot you are when you talk like that?"

"Arrgh!" Justine wiped her hands with her kerchief and stuffed it into the breast pocket of her coveralls. "Focus here. I've got you on my team because you've actually got half a brain, not because you want to date me. Got it?"

He slumped down slightly, but not by too much. She'd told him that enough times it was starting to lose its sting, not to mention they had actually been on an honest-to-goodness date a couple of times. The way he figured it, when the project was a go, and they finally had a successful test, they would both have a reason to celebrate.

"Yeah, I got it. You want me to go get the spare from supply?"

Justine shifted her thin frame and got up, resting a hand briefly on his shoulder. "No. I built this myself, I'll fix it myself. Then I'll run some tests and we can go get a late-night burger or something at Cow and Chow. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah!"

"Good. Hold the fort and I'll get the replacement. Now that I've figured out what this saboteur had done, I should be able to fix it inside of a few minutes. Leave it to a prototype like this, weeks to figure out what's wrong, moments to repair."

"Ghosts in the machine." He said, in a form of agreement with her.

* * *

Ammie's mouth was actually watering. She might have been a petite woman, but her powers demanded a lot of her tiny frame, so it stood to reason that she would need plenty of good fuel.

The burger she was sinking her teeth into wasn't the healthiest choice in the world, but it would serve her just as well as any salad. Because of her healing powers she could eat just about anything and her body would simply take care of any problems the saturated fat, high salt content or other hidden nasties the fast food could throw her.

Wiping a bit of barbecue sauce from the corner of her mouth, she went back to puzzling her current predicament. Causing the test to fail several weeks earlier should have fixed the time stream. That done, she should have been able to return to her own time, confident that nothing else would remain to damage the ether. The MPG and the D-Hopper had been destroyed, and the scientists who came up with it had been subtly discouraged from repeating the projects. Those had been the easy parts.

Her time-slip lens had opened normally, but instead of stepping out in the year 2032, she found herself still stuck in 2010, only a few weeks after she had left. The burger helped to ease her disappointment a little, but even that she got over as she started trying to get a sense of what was still wrong.

There was another reason for getting the burger, instead of heading to her usual haunt of Bueno Nacho. It centered around the couple sitting at the next booth, casually chatting, the young man trying to put the make on a skinny blond that made her actually look athletic.

It was clear that she was going to have to take a more direct approach with them. Soon, at least.

At the moment, she was going to enjoy her dinner.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	50. Chapter 50

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 50**

* * *

"You want to do _what_?" Drakken gripped the edge of the kitchen table like he was about to break the corner right off. He looked like he was somewhere between abject shock and outright fury, which wasn't all that unusual for him, or at least he used to be that way. 

Sherry looked upwards momentarily as she busied herself making dinner for the thee of them, a task she found herself enjoying much more than she ever thought she would during her former life. "I just thought would be really neat for our wedding." She looked back at him, gently touching his check with a bent finger.

He pushed her hand aside, still glaring at her. "It's not even necessary. We're having the ceremony at the Justice of the Peace. All we need is a witness, and Mother will do just fine."

"Wait, wait, wait, just one doggone minute there, Dr. D. Whoever said going to a Justice of the Peace would be good. Weddings, proper weddings happen at a church."

"But…you're not even religious. Nor am I for that matter, why would we go to a church in the first place?"

"Like I said, its proper. Don't ask me to explain it, Blue. Maybe I'm hedging my bets, I dunno, but I'm not going to feel married unless it's done in a church, with a preacher, priest or whatever they're called, with flower girls and a ring bearer, and somebody to give me away."

Drakken pulled out a chair and sat down heavily, crossing his arms. "You sound like a little girl planning her own wedding." He groused.

"Hey, I _was_ a little girl once! What you're talking about, that's like, I dunno, maybe we'd just show up wearing jeans and t-shirts and say a few words, sign a few pieces of paper and so forth. If that's all we're gonna do, we might as well just skip it and stay like we are, living together and actually sleeping together. The only difference is being legal, and since when did we give a crap about that?"

"Well, I give a 'crap' about it, Shego. Legal might sound funny for us, but I want to legally adopt Amethyst, and to do that, we have to be legally married. Well, we don't have to, but it makes it much easier, according to Perkins."

The cooking spoon she was holding almost dropped out of her hands. It had been a long time since he actually surprised her. Even his proposal seemed like a foregone conclusion to her, but what he was saying was something she hadn't even imagined. He wouldn't just be her daughter's step-father, he would step in and become her father completely, becoming her "Daddy" in every way except the little detail of contributing his DNA.

"You really mean that?" She set the spoon down on the counter and walked around the table, sitting down on his lap and putting her forehead against his.

"Yes, Shego. I love Amethyst like nobody else in my life, and she deserves to have a father, a real father. I lost my father when I was four years old, so I know what it's like not to have one, and I want better for her. Do you know what it does to me when she calls me 'Daddy?'"

"Dr. D…Drew, I do, I really do. It's one of the reasons I finally admitted to myself that I feel the way I do about you, one of the reasons I said yes, I would marry you." She gave him a light kiss on the lips, then got back up to return to her cooking before something caught fire.

"Really, Shego, I don't have a problem with having the ceremony at a church. I just assumed, apparently incorrectly, that you would want to keep it as simple as possible. I suppose you want to wear a dress as well?"

"Well doy! We're talking about my wedding day."

Drakken glanced over his shoulder at the little brown-haired girl playing in the den. "I would guess that nobody would expect you to be wearing white."

"Gah! Why does every guy have to make a big deal about wearing white?"

"Well, with a child, it's quite obvious you're not a vir…"

"Enough with that, Drakken. This is the twenty-first century. People don't care any more whether I've actually slept with somebody before the wedding. I'll wear white if I doggone want to, understand?"

"Er, yes" He cowered slightly in his chair as a spoon covered in red spaghetti sauce waved just inches from his nose.

"As a matter of fact, I'm looking at a dress design, but I'm going to have it made in green."

"Green?"

"Well duh. I happen to like green, and I spent the greater part of my teenaged and adult life that color." For emphasis, she activated her power just enough that her skin slowly turned pale, mint green, spreading from her hands. Her eyes turned from brown to a bright, slightly glowing green and the light reflected from her raven hair turned from blue to green.

She stroked her own cheek very lightly. "I think this color would be nice. Close enough to white that I'll still look like a bride."

"It's very nice, though if we're going to be putting on a show anyway, it would be nice if you'd show your 'true colors'."

"Maybe these are my 'true colors' Drakken. Not like I'm going to ask you to wear makeup that day. I'm marrying you, blue skin, little hands, scar and all."

"Actually, Shego, that's what I mean. You always said you thought you looked prettiest in green, and I have to agree. All over."

Sherry grabbed the largest pot and poured the contents into a strainer in the sink. "Okay, that's sweet and all, but why are you upset if you're giving in so easily?"

"I'm not upset by you wanting to wear a dress or get married in a church. Wait, I thought your parents were Jewish."

"They were. I'm not. I don't know what I was supposed to be, but a church comes to mind more readily than a temple. Besides, the less people who know about my adoptive heritage, the better."

"Okay, I can understand and respect that. Like I said, getting married in a church is fine. Mother will certainly like that a lot better. That's not my problem."

"Then what?"

"It's your choices for the wedding party."

"Oh, come on, Drakken, give it a rest, will ya. I don't have a lot of people besides you I can call a real friend."

"I wouldn't exactly call her a friend." He shuddered slightly.

"Then what would you call her? We're not enemies any more."

"Enemies?"

"Yeah. Kinda hard to hate somebody who was there to hold my hand while I was giving birth, since you couldn't be there."

He stood up, snarling slightly. "I was busy outside making sure that Gemini person didn't kidnap you and Amethyst! Makes me wonder exactly what your priorities are, and for that matter, what the heck are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Kimmie. I feel like I owe her, and making her my maid-of-honor is one small way of repaying her."

"Oh, her. No, I pretty much figured you would want her along. Not that I'm agreeing with you, but I can understand that. No, I'm talking about this other woman you want to invite."

"Huh?"

"Why in the world do you want her?"

"You're talking about Amy?"

"Yes her! What would possess you to invite Amy Hall Fiske to be a bride's matron?"

* * *

Kim was doing her best to hide her nervousness as she waited. Her Mom stood off to one side, holding her purse for her as she looked at herself in the three-way mirror. She was still wearing a lavender faux wrap dress that she had arrived in, but that wasn't keeping her from imagining herself in the other dress she had come to try on. 

"You're sure this is going to look good on me?" She asked, a little quiver in her voice.

"It's going to look beautiful, Kimmie, trust me."

"I don't know, Mom. It looked kind of elaborate to me, and the bodice…it's a good thing we're not doing the ceremony in our hymnal. When we kneel at the alter, both Rabbi Katz and Pastor Grayson would see _everything_!"

"Miss Wong knows what she is doing, sweetheart. The front is cut low, but it will fit you perfectly. I should know, my dress was cut that way and I'm not built all that differently than you are."

Kim started to open her mouth, but the words died on her lips. Ever since she was a little girl, she always imagined herself in a particular wedding dress, one that she first tried on when she was much smaller, right over the clothes she had on at the moment. None of the designs they had looked at had even come close, and the one they finally settled on was, as she had already said, quite elaborate.

"You are going to look like a fairy princess, dear. Believe me, once you put it on, all your fears will go away."

"I'm not afraid of it or anything. We graduate in a week, and in six weeks I'll get to wear the dress for real, and I'll be Mrs. Ronald Eugene Stoppable." She sighed, looking at herself in the mirror again. "I think I'll wear this dress for the rehearsal dinner. What do you think?"

"I think it will look perfect. It's one of your friend's designs, isn't it?"

"Monique actually made it, Mom. Can't wait for her to get here…I almost want to fly out to Durham just to see her."

"She will be here soon enough. Trust me, the next few weeks will go by in a flash and next thing you know you'll be trying to figure out how you're going to tell your father and me that we're about to be grandparents."

"Mom, let me get married first! I've got grad-school to think of, and Ron and I are going back to doing missions as soon as we're back from our mini-vacation. I'm so not going to be getting pregnant the moment I get married."

"I don't know, Kimmie. There're always 'happy accidents.' Your meds aren't perfect you know. Ninety nine point nine percent effective means that point one percent can sometimes come to bite you on the butt…after Ronald bites you on the…"

"Mom!" She almost shrieked, clasping her hands over her chest.

"I'm just saying, dear."

"Well, at least I know for a fact right now that point one percent hasn't gotten me."

"Oh, is that why you've been extra cranky the last week?"

Kim rolled her eyes. Her Mom knew quite well she had been PMSing the last few days, and it wasn't just because she was as regular as clockwork. It helped they had planned their wedding so it was in the middle of the cycle…considering.

"I'm just glad I'm not retaining water right now for the fitting. Like I said, I'd sure hate for that thing to be loose on me, even if I don't have to kneel during the ceremony."

"I'm sure if there is any problem, Monique will be more than happy to fix things for you. I had more than a few pins in my own dress on my wedding day."

"Really?"

"Yes. My dress was my mother's before me, and I didn't have the fortune of getting her hips like you did, or as luck would have it, a professional dressmaker to take it in for me, so some accommodations had to be made."

Kim's eyes met her Mom's, both of the women grinning at each other as the seamstress finally made her appearance with an old clothes box with worn edges.

She eyed the box as it was set on the long table. Something about it looked really familiar, and it most definitely wasn't what she was expecting to see a new, custom made dress be brought in. Kim gasped slightly as the woman reached for the top, realizing where she had seen that particular container before.

It had been in their attic for years, since before she was born.

Kim's eyes glistened slightly when the satin white dress was lifted from the box. It had the low bodice she was expecting, but it was far simpler than the dress she had finally settled on, after practically being brow-beaten by her Mom to accept it.

"Mom, is that?..."

"Yes, Kimmie." She helped the woman pull the dress from the box, holding it full length for her daughter to see.

Kim immediately took it, heading into the changing room. She threw the lavender dress over the door and stepped into the shimmering white gown, tears actually starting to run down her cheeks.

Anne went into the dressing cubicle and helped her zip it up, then helped her arrange the veil on her head, carefully pulling her hair into a ponytail. "I think you should wear your hair up on your wedding day. We'll have fresh carnations for your head, and it has a lace net to hold your hair up too.

She stepped out of the cubicle and up to the mirrors, slipping on the long, satin gloves that went with it. Kim imagined herself holding a bouquet of white flowers, just like the ones she had seen so many times in photos of the dress…

…when her mother had worn it more than two decades earlier.

"Mom, I…I don't know what to say…it's perfect!"

Anne took a tissue from her pocketbook and dabbed her daughter's cheeks. "I told you to trust me."

"It's so beautiful. I love you, Mom!" She wrapped her arms around the taller woman, hugging her tightly."

"You just have to promise me one thing, dear."

"What's that?"

"You'll give me a granddaughter who can wear this when it's her turn."

"You'd better believe it, but in about ten years or so."

Anne smiled softly. "Don't wait too long, Kimmie. Don't forget, you owe me."

"Owe you?"

"Remember a few years ago, when I won a jinx? You owe me grandchildren."

* * *

Wade took a big sip of his soda and turned his attention back to the large plasma screen centered at his console. His 'office' at the space center was more elaborate, but his old workstation in his room was far more comfortable to him. It was 'home' and virtually everything around him was his own creation. What looked like a confusing profusion of cobbled together computer junk to others was a carefully orchestrated perfection of function to him. He saw beauty in function, rather than form, and everything had a purpose, and did it well. 

He jumped slightly when a tell-tale popped up on the screen. Wade was quite used to seeing the little flashes on his screen, since request for help from Team Possible came in every few seconds, but this one was special. It was keyed to a pop-up that would override anything else currently on his screen.

Hands flashed on the custom keyboard designed to more comfortably accommodate his pudgy fingers. The pop-up flashed to full-screen and he read the information intently. That caused a frown to form.

"Oh lord, what is Shego up to now?" He muttered. For half a moment, his finger hovered over the key that would connect him with Joss' Kimmunicator. Then he changed his mind.

A week from graduation or not, Shego was Kim's business. Instead, his finger hit another key, set off to the side from the others, instantly connecting him with hers.

It had been a while since he had used that particular key.

* * *

a/n What's Shego up to? Well, if you don't want to be spoiled, definitely avoid my short "What's the Hitch?" Kim's got the 'something old' part, so it remains to be seen what will be 'something new, something borrowed and something blue.' 

For a look at her dress, visit my DevArt page. It's right there on the main page as the featured deviation (you can get there through my profile.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	51. Chapter 51

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 51**

* * *

Kim experienced a fleeting moment of self-consciousness as she unlocked the front door of her apartment. The all-too recent visit from Ron's great aunts was still fresh in her mind, and she knew the place was even in rougher shape than it had been at the time, but it wasn't a pair of judgmental matriarchs waiting to be let into her home, but her Mom waiting to be let in, and this time there was a very good reason for the place to be rather messy, even more so than it usually was. She knew exactly how the place left when she left that morning, and if Ron had 'disobeyed' her and was up at all, he wasn't about to do any cleaning or straightening.

"I wish I could tell Ron about my dress." Kim mused, as she turned the knob, the image her wearing the 'old' dress still fresh in her mind, complete with imagined details such as the fresh flowers that would be added to it, as well as how she would wear her long red hair that day.

Anne just shook her head, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder as she opened the door. "You know good and well, Kimmie, that it's bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress before the actual wedding day."

"I thought that was seeing the bride before the ceremony on the wedding day. Not to mention, Ron's already seen the dress."

"No, Ronald's seen my dress, and when he saw it he knew it was mine, not yours. The two of you playing dress-up in the attic doesn't count. Now that it's yours, he can't see it until your wedding day." Anne raised a shapely finger in front of her daughter as her bottom lip started puckering out. "Don't try the Puppy-Dog-Pout on me, young lady. Ronald will see you in it soon enough."

"See you in what?" A weak voice asked from the den, followed by a bout of wet coughing.

"Ronnie, what are you doing up?" Kim asked, putting her purse on the table beside the door as her Mom followed her in.

He nodded toward the coffee table, where he had the laptop set up, the printer connected to it by a cable. Paper was spread out around it, making it look like he had already been through half a ream. Ron was sitting on the floor, his back against the sofa, where he had a blanket and a pillow from the bed if he wanted to take a break from his work. "Gotta finish up this report for Snyder. You know how he is."

Kim rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Both of them had repeatedly ended up in the old professor's class more than once. He was turning out to be the Steve Barkin of Middleton College, covering just about every core curriculum class offered at the storied school. He was tough, but fair, but the one thing he would not ever tolerate was a late assignment. He didn't care one little bit why it was late, it was supposed to be in his briefcase by the end of class on the day it was due or it was a complete zero. No excuses, no extensions, no exceptions, period.

Ron having a terrible cold wasn't about to become an exception either.

Anne put a hand on his forehead. "Ronald, you're running a high fever. I'm sure what you already have done can be finished up once you've had some time to recover. If nothing else, once you get some rest, you can work on it in bed, and Kim can proofread it for you."

"I'm cough fine, Mrs. Dr. P. I really need to get this done."

"Not fine enough that you can remember to call me 'Mom,' like I've told you a thousand times already. Ronald, I'm certain you've learned your lesson about procrastinating. It's Saturday, I think you can afford a little bit of rest, and it's not like one paper is going to keep you from graduating."

He gave her a forlorn look that said that might not actually be the case, but he relented and hit control-S, then shut the laptop.

"It's not fair sniff Kim got over this a couple days ago." He moaned as he gathered up the rough drafts he had printed out. "I wish that mystery woman would show up and do whatever she did when we were sick last winter."

Kim pounded her fist lightly in her palm "Oh, if she shows up, there's going to be a lot more going down than just you getting over this cold."

Anne helped him to his feet, not caring one little bit he was just dressed in a white tank top and boxer shorts. He was, after all, like a son to her, and besides that, she had already shifted into "doctor" mode, even though spring-time illnesses weren't her specialty.

"I think I'll give you a good once-over and go home to make you a pot of chicken soup. How does that sound?"

"Badical…just so long as KP doesn't have to heat it up." He managed a weak smile in his fiancé's direction. Kim simply glared back at him, then went back to perusing his notes. As her Mom led him to the bedroom, she got out a red pen and started making corrections the spell-check function had missed, which were considerable.

Anne finally got him to crawl weakly into the bed, pulling the covers up over him like she had done for her own three kids countless times as they were growing up. Actually, she had done that several times for Ron as well, though he usually didn't get sick as often as the others did.

She spent a couple minutes rummaging in her purse, before coming up with a compact digital thermometer, which she promptly stuck into his mouth. A wry smile formed on her face as he shot her a quizzical look.

"Digital thermometer. You never know."

Before it could beep, signaling it was ready to read, he was wracked with coughing from deep in his chest, sending up a few globs of thick, yellow gunk. Anne just shook her head and got him a tissue to clean him up.

"Ronald, you are grounded." She said, replacing the instrument under his tongue.

Finally it beeped, and she pulled the thermometer from Ron's mouth and checked it. The tiny screen was reading 101°, though anyone who had eyes could tell the poor boy was sick.

"Mrs. Dr. P…" kaff, kaff "…I don't get sick!"

"Of course you do. You just wait until everybody else has been sick around you and you choose from the very strongest of the germs to get sick on. Plus, I just told you. Call me Mom or I'm going to bring the other kind of thermometer over next time."

She didn't have to tell him twice what kind of thermometer she was talking about. Kim stuck her tongue out, wondering exactly why somebody had ever gotten the idea of using a rectal thermometer in the first place, other than to use in just suck a threat. "Yes, Mom." He sniffed, pulling the covers up over his reddened nose.

"Ron, don't be such a baby." Kim said from nearby, her arms crossed. With the exception of an occasional cough, she was already over her cold. She knew this was coming. Her mother was right, every time enough people around them got sick, it eventually worked its way to Ron, and, if any germ was strong enough to get through his 'Stoppable Fortress of Immunity', it was strong enough to wreak havoc on him.

"Well, Kimmie, would you like me to make up the bed in the spare room, or do you want to come home and sleep in your old room for a few nights?" her mother asked with a sly smile.

"I…er…uh."

"It's alright Kim. It's pretty obvious that 'your' room hasn't been used much recently, if at all. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Your are twenty-one after all. I don't think even your father subscribes to that fiction, considering all that went on at our house before you got this place."

"It's just, we, you know, uh."

"Uh huh." She nodded once more, the smile never wavering, then turned her attention back to her patient. "I think you should be 'fit as a chimp' by tomorrow, considering how quickly Kimmie got over her cold. You just need to take better care of yourself…and make sure you've got a bigger jump on your schoolwork."

"That's what I'm trying to do. It's not due until the middle of the week when I have Snyder's class. I've come too far, done too much work to let something like this creep up on me and bite me in the butt."

"Ronald, you don't know how proud Kimmie's father and I are of you. You've grown up so much in the last few years. Now if I could just convince you that, when you're sick, you've got to admit it and give your body time to heal. How is it going to look at the graduation ceremony in a couple weeks if you're up there coughing like you are now?"

"All I know is that, once that's done, we can go back to normal."

"Humph, since when were the two of you particularly normal?" Anne took the protective sleeve off the thermometer and tossed it into a small trash bin full of used tissues before replacing it in her pocketbook.

"Never cough be normal." He added.

"He's just weird." Kim said, grinning as she leaned against the nightstand.

"Kimmie!" Anne scolded slightly.

The younger Possible just smiled back at her, giving her Mom a little wink. "S'ha, I like weird."

"I think I'll just leave that comment at that, though I might add, you're both just twenty-one, and you probably haven't really delved into true weirdness yet. For instance, your father and I…"

"Mom! Taking a turn down TMI street." Kim held up her hands, nearly reaching for her ears.

"Heh, maybe we should hear her out, KP." Ron immediately pulled the covers up over his head before she could react.

Kim's bracelet started chirping insistently. The sound had become so rare, all three of them were shocked to hear it.

_Beep-Beep-De-Beep!_

"One of these days, we're going to have to get a less annoying ring-tone." Ron said wearily.

"Ron!" she said to hush him as she touched the answer key on her Kimmunicator. "What's the sitch, wade?"

"How's the cold, Kim?" a holographic projection of Wade floating above her bracelet asked?

"Much better, thank you!"

"Has it hit he-who-never-gets-sick yet?"

Ron chose that moment to start hacking. Anne made him sit up in the bed and started patting his back, making him drink a glass of water that had been sitting on his nightstand.

"I'll take that was a definite yes." Wade admitted. "You up to taking one on alone Kim?"

"Me? I thought you were forwarding all the missions to Joss and the Tweebs. What is it?"

"I thought you might want this one. It's Shego. I intercepted a coded message that she's got something planned for you. Something about your worst nightmare."

Kim frowned. She hadn't seen Sherry in a couple weeks and she had assumed they had buried the hatchet for good. Yet, despite all that, there was always a grain of mistrust where the former villainess was concerned. Sometimes, leopards really couldn't change their stripes. "Sigh Where is she?" she asked in a low voice.

"She's in the old Mt. Middleton lair. Satellite scans show a lot of recent activity there, plus I've got some pretty solid scans on her. Kim, that means she's powered up again."

That alone did not bode well. For one thing, it was part of her agreement that she wouldn't use her powers. For another, it meant she wanted to be 'seen,' considering her glow powers would light up the sensors placed around her home and her old haunts like a searchlight. "Okay, Wade, I'm on it. Warm up the cruiser for me."

"You got it." The hologram winked off as she went into a walk-in closet to change into her mission suit. Pursing her lips, she reconsidered. If "Shego" was back, she needed all the help she could get, and that meant a battle suit.

"Kim, you're not going alone." Her mother said from beside the bed.

She looked over at her stricken lover, lying there with the covers up to his nose, looking generally pathetic. "Mom, I'd think you would be the last person on Earth who would let Ron go on a mission in that condition."

"Of course not. I'm talking about me."

Kim stood in the door of the closet, her dress half undone.

"Mom, do you have any idea how dangerous Shego can be?"

"I know exactly how much damage she has actually managed to do to you over the years. I also know you are not at one-hundred percent right now."

"I'm fine." She protested, stifling a sniff. For half a moment, she had the odd thought that she actually had been retaining the fluids she'd been drinking, but quickly snapped her mind back to the matter at hand.

"I also think I'm one of the last people she would harm. I delivered her baby for goodness sake…Kim! No using the Puppy-Dog-Pout on me! Twice in one afternoon is more than enough"

Kim's lower lip slowly pulled back in. It was rapidly becoming obvious the pout only worked on Ron, and then only part of the time. She'd obviously come to rely on it just a little too much. On top of that, her Mom had dealt with Shego on many occasions by that point, not the least of which was actually delivering her daughter in the family guest room.

"Fine." She said, throwing up her hands as she wriggled out of the snug dress. "Just put on one of my spare suits… please?"

"Of course, dear." She joined her in the closet, closing the door in order to spare Ron seeing his future mother-in-law change into one of the dark gray and blue super-suits.

* * *

The lair had not changed much since Kim had been in there last, save the thick coating of dust everywhere. One thing about the grime, however, it clearly showed there had been recent activity here. There were clear footprints leading from the main entrance, not to mention the black SUV parked where the dirt road leading to it ended.

The last time Kim had been here, Drakken had stolen an advanced combat fighter, hoping he could unlock the secrets of its powerful weapons. Since that time the place had been sealed up by Global Justice. There should have been sensors implanted just in case anyone tried to use the abandoned base again, but a call to Assistant Director Bedarest revealed they hadn't been tripped. That meant the two life-signs Wade detected in there had found some way to bypass them. Kim was worried that one of those life-signs would turn out to be Drakken. If both of them had taken a turn back towards the darkness…

She tried putting that thought out of her mind. There was too much at stake for Sherry to have gone off the deep end again. Her priorities had shifted, seemingly permanently, or at least that was what she hoped. The two women tip-toed down the main corridor. The glass walls of the now-empty labs were gone, removed when all of Drakken's old equipment was removed. The place seemed empty as a tomb.

That was another thought Kim wished she didn't have.

"Careful, Mom. This place is full of trap doo…" she was cut off as the floor gave way beneath them. In an instant she knew they had crossed the very same spot where she had been with Ron when they were trapped by Drakken back when they were trying to rescue her father from the place. They slid down the chute, landing relatively safely in the large chamber that once housed a giant tank with a mutant tentacle monster and one of the infamous killer death rays.

"Mom? You okay?" She asked, concerned as the older woman shakily got to her feet. They had landed on a stack of cardboard boxes, causing the Styrofoam packing peanuts they were full of to go shooting in every direction. At least it was a softer landing than she had the first time.

"I knew you would find me here, Princess!" a familiar feminine voice bellowed from above.

Sherry stepped out onto a balcony, dressed in her familiar green and black body suit. A wicked smile crossed her otherwise stunning features as she surveyed the two women on the floor below.

Kim just glared upwards at the woman. A slight glimmer of hope that nothing was going on died as she realized she wasn't just looking at Sherry Godfrey, but the mint-hued villainess known to most only as Shego. Even her trademark black lipstick had returned, along with the metal tipped gloves that gave extra cutting power to her glow-charged hands.

"I've got a little surprise for you, Kimmie!" She pointed over their heads at a massive sphere in the center of the room. It looked for all the world like the larger third of DNAmy's Genetic Zipper. There was a loud clacking sound as the two halves started moving, splitting in the segmented middle. Light poured from the inside, causing both women to squint painfully.

"It's your WORST NIGHTMARE!" Shego cackled as the interior was revealed.

Anne Possible gasped.

Kim Possible looked at the horror inside the sphere, put her hands to her face, and SCREAMED!

* * *

A/N: Okay, no cheating, I mean it. Don't go reading _What's The Hitch _if you don't already know what's upsetting Kim so much!

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	52. Chapter 52

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 52**

* * *

Ron was almost completely certain he hadn't gotten any sleep since both women had left him alone in the apartment. Every so often he would open up his eyes and stare at the digital clock on the old student desk beside the window. The hours kept creeping by, his mind trapped in the feeling that he really should be getting some serious rest, but he was unable to.

It wasn't that he was particularly worried about what Kim and her Mom were going to find. Sherry hadn't been a problem in a long time, and deep down he knew that Kim wouldn't take her mother along if she felt the same way. He weakly raised an eyebrow when she insisted she wear a super-suit, but he quickly fell back on his previous assessment.

Unable to relax enough to truly rest, Ron sat up in the bed, grabbing Kim's pillows to make his stack a little higher. He scanned the room until his eyes came to rest on the television remote, his shoulders sagging into the pile of down cushions when he realized it was on the desk beside the clock. That meant getting up out of the bed to get something that should have at least been on Kim's nightstand.

He wasn't able to stay in that position long before he was wracked with coughing once again as the congestion started sliding down his throat. Glancing at his own nightstand, he realized the water glass Mom P had brought him was empty, and had been since just after the two of them had left.

Ron hated feeling the way he did. It was warm outside, but cool in the room, yet, every time he pulled the covers up over his slender frame, he felt like he was overheating from the fever. Then there was the congestion. When he rolled to one side, the fluid in his sinuses would flow that way, blocking that side of his nose. Rolling onto his other side only relieved it for a moment as the thick, uncomfortable goo obeyed the laws of gravity. Sitting up just seemed to make it clog up both sides, making him breath through his mouth, aggravating his already sore throat.

Shaking his head, he realized that he really wasn't going to be able to stay in bed. Not only would he have to get up to turn on the television, his body was telling him things that needed attention as well, further decreasing the possibility that he could actually relax.

Even as slowly as he got up, he was reminded once again just how Kim felt when she 'got up too fast' with a cold. His inner ears were just as clogged up as his nose and his muscles just didn't want to respond. Still, he wasn't about to take care of business right there in the bedroom, no matter how badly he felt, so he forced one foot in front of the other and made his way into the bathroom.

He stared at himself in the mirror as he washed his hands. There were dark circles under his eyes, which themselves were completely bloodshot, he desperately needed a shave and he could swear he was very slightly green. His cowlick was in high-gear as well, with more of his usually shaggy hair sticking up from the crown. It was bad enough he considered actually getting out his yarmulke to wear around the house, instead of just on Saturday morning. That would have been a sight, he pondered, him wearing a tank-top and boxers with a skull-cap.

Drying his hands off, he went to the kitchen and pulled a few items out the cabinet and fridge. The first made Kim's eyes bulge out of her head when he pulled it from the bag. He chuckled slightly to himself that people would actually say they possessed bottle of Kentucky Bourbon for medicinal purposes, since that was precisely what he was about to do with it. In truth, he had only purchased it for a recipe, though he poured each of them a shot, just to satisfy their curiosity.

The look on both their faces when they downed their shots pretty much made it clear the bottle was going to be in Ron's spice cabinet for a long-long time.

More on instinct than any real knowledge about how to make the ancient cough medicine, he combined some tupelo honey, fresh squeezed lemon juice and the dark liquor in the bottom of a glass. Bracing himself, he drank the mixture, holding it in the back of his mouth for a moment before swallowing it down.

He wasn't quite sure what was worse, that concoction, or the cough medicine he could buy at the drug store. What his was distinctly sure of was that he didn't want to cough at that moment, fearing he would spew fire in all directions just like if he had downed a whole packet of Five-Alarm Diablo sauce.

"Rufus." He rasped. "I do not recommend that."

He stuck his pink little head in the top of the glass and took a whiff, making his own face before disappearing.

"You could have warned me before I drank that. Ew, that was nasty…almost as nasty as…no, I don't think anything can be as nasty as Duff's Haggis, but that was close."

There was no telling if it was the medicinal properties of his creation, of just the adrenaline surge from the fiery liquor, but he did actually feel a little better. Idly scratching himself, he made his way back into the bedroom. Grabbing the remote, he sat down on the edge of the bed and started flipping channels, finally settling on a story about cheese-making on the Knowing Channel.

The mere mention of the 'C' word brought Rufus right back to him, or at least nearby on the bed. It wasn't clear if human germs could affect him, but he wasn't about to take that chance.

At least he wasn't wearing a hospital mask.

Scooting back in the bed, Ron leaned on the stack of pillows. He's seen the program before, but he always liked watching one of his favorite foods being made. There was also the added benefit of not being able to smell the stuff being produced. One trip to an actual cheese factory had almost turned him off to it completely. That memory caused a little smile, since Kim had come along with him on the trip with his classmates and she managed to turn as green as her old, faded tank top.

Still unable to relax, he leaned over and opened his nightstand. His black yarmulke was sitting on top of a satin box. It was rather plain and old, but it was the same one he had worn for his Bar Mitzvah some eight years earlier, and since he only wore it to Temple, it was still in reasonably good shape.

Carefully setting it aside, he opened the thin box, first pulling a small note from the soft, satin interior.

_Ronnie:_

_I know how attached you are to that old yarmulke of yours, but I'd like to ask you to wear this one for your wedding. It belonged to your Granddad and it's the one he wore for our wedding. If you'd do that, I'd be so honored._

_Gram R._

Reverently, he folded the note and tucked it back into its place before taking the white skull-cap out, gingerly unfolding the sequined silk in his hands. He so wanted to put it on right then and there, not so much to wear it, but because of what it represented. Yes, he had finally gone with his father to old man Horowitz and gotten started on his Tuxedo, but the cap was closer to his equivalent to Kim's wedding dress than the black, high-fashion suit would be. The more so because it had been handed down by his Grandmother Rokowski. She hadn't even done that for his father when he got married, though that wasn't surprising since she'd always very mildly disapproved of Gene Stoppable.

He sat there wishing it was already July, instead of May. Then Kim could put on her dress, and he could see it. Somehow it didn't seem fair that he couldn't see the dress until their wedding day and Kim had seen the yarmulke the moment he opened the parcel. Still, that was pretty much the way things worked.

Momentarily forgetting his condition, he went to the large, oval dressing mirror on Kim's side of the room and slipped the cap onto his head. Frowning, he took it off and slicked his hair down as best he could before replacing it. He stood there for a moment, imagining himself in the tux, a white ruffled shirt poking through the front, a white cummerbund, specially made to match his yarmulke around his waist.

Rufus squeaked the wedding march from his perch at the end of the bed.

"Yeah, little buddy, I can't wait either. If you ask me, we should have gone through with this a long time ago, instead of waiting for this summer."

The little mole rat glared at him for a moment, then glanced at the unmade bed, then back at his human.

"Oh, not you too. Just because we live together and we…you know, that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to actually being Mr Kimberly Anne Possible."

Rufus just rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the television, where they were showing how Roquefort cheese was made. To him, all that mattered was that the two people he loved most in the world had finally become mates. Silly ceremonies in outlandish clothing meant nothing to him.

"Well, not so much that. Kim will be Kim Stoppable, though. I can't believe it, in less than two months we're actually going to be married. It seems like it was just five minutes ago we were dancing at the Junior Prom, yet it seems like it's been forever too."

"Hey." Rufus squeaked, shooting his human a dirty look.

"Okay, that didn't come out right. It just seems like Kim and Me, like…we've always been, you know, together. I almost can't remember what it was like when we were 'just friends.' Though I do remember all that stuff about Josh."

Rufus made gagging motions before squeaking "Mankey, pew."

"Ah, come on, Josh isn't such a bad guy. He's marrying Tara after all. Now there's a couple who belong together. Hmmm, maybe if I'd steered him toward Tara a little earlier, maybe Kim would have noticed me sooner."

"Hrk, nope." Rufus responded, picking up the remote to change the station since the cheese show was over.

"Oh, who am I kidding. If we'd gotten together sooner one of us, probably me, would have screwed it all up."

His heart jumped slightly as the front door unlocked. Jumping back toward the bed, he quickly folded the yarmulke back up, replacing it in his drawer before hastily scooting back in the bed.

"You're supposed to be resting." Kim scolded as she crossed the room to their closet, two super-suits draped across her arm. It took him a moment to realize that she was wearing a completely new outfit.

Kim and her Mom had gone shopping.

"That must have been some mission." He commented, sitting up slightly. He burped just a little, causing his throat to burn with the taste of his homemade cough syrup once more.

"Ugh, don't remind me. I still can't believe Sherry could do something so horrible."

Ron arched an eyebrow. "I thought she'd given up on the 'life of crime' thing."

"Tell that to the fashion police." Kim growled, hanging up the two suits and closing the vault door.

"Kim, Kim, Kim, there's no such thing as the fashion police. That's just an old joke."

"Oh, really? Then who was it that almost arrested Coco Banana for last year's winter collection? Anyway, even if there weren't, Shego has gone too far this time."

"You're still not telling me what she did, KP. You make it sound like she came at you in her old jumpsuit with the sleeves ripped off or something."

Kim groaned. "It's worse than that. It's…hard to describe. It was just so awful. I think Mom almost fainted herself."

"Gah!" Ron clutched both sides of his face. "Just tell me what she did, KP!"

She shot him a look for a moment, then disappeared back into the living room, returning with a horror on a hanger.

"This." She threw the dress down onto the bed, across Ron's legs.

"Hey, it's a dress…I think. What's the big, KP?"

"Ron, take a look at it. That…thing makes all that junk Nana keeps sending me look like something out of a Paris fashion show."

He held it up to the light. It was pale green, more lime than mint, with silver panels that mimicked the pattern of Shego's old Team Go uniform.

"Wait a minute. I thought you were going to find out what she meant by your worst nightmare, and she gave you a dress?"

Kim grabbed it and headed for the closet, hanging it all the way in the back, pulling the clothes beside it out slightly to hide it. "That thing is a nightmare, Ron. That has got to be the single ugliest bridesmaid dress I have ever seen in my life."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there, KP. Monique is designing your bridesmaid dresses. If Sherry wants to play some kind of sick joke on you with that, you don't have to make them wear it."

"It's worse than that, Ronnie. I've got to wear it." She moaned, picking up Rufus so she could sit down on the end of the bed. He curled up contentedly in her arms and promptly fell asleep.

"Uh…" Ron scratched his head for a moment. "Why would you wear that to our wedding?"

She leaned over the bed and very lightly rapped on his skull with her knuckles. "Hello, Mr. Nothing But Air Beneath the Hair. I've got to wear it because I'm going to be a bridesmaid. Actually, I'm supposed to be the Maid-of-Honor."

That served to confuse him even more. "Not…quite…getting."

"Oy. Ron, Sherry is the one getting married…in two weeks. She asked me to be her MoH."

"Coolio, so Blue Boy finally popped the question." He brightened up slightly as the concept of a second wedding slowly seeped into his brain.

"Yeah, seems he proposed some time back but… wait…How did you know she was marrying Drakken? I thought she was seeing somebody else."

"Oh, come on, KP, it was obvious."

"Obvious, what was? You mean you actually knew they've been…" She shuddered slightly, remembering lots of TMI facts her one-time nemesis had given her as they discussed the details of her impending nuptials.

"Duh. Look at the way he looks at her. You remember how he acted when Ammie was born."

Kim shook her head. "No, not exactly. I was busy getting my hand crushed by hers while she was in labor."

"Look, they live together…Drakken's practically Ammie's father. Personally, I think it's great!"

"Ugh." Kim leaned back on the bed, letting her fingers drag lightly over his hand. "This is so ferociously weird. Who would have thought I'd be the MoH was Shego's and Drakken's wedding?"

"Weirder things have happened, KP. Look at us."

"Ronnie, there's weird, then there's wrong on all levels."

"Kim, there's nothing wrong with it. Sure, they used to be super-freak villains and tried taking over the world, but they deserve to be happy together. Just like us." He turned his hand over, twining his fingers with hers.

She turned onto her side, facing him. "So you think we deserve to be happy together?" She smiled softly at him, tracing the edge of his ear with her free hand.

"S'ha. Uh, KP, what are you doing?"

Looking at him with slightly hooded eyes, she leaned closer, whispering. "Oh, just wondering if you're feeling any better than you were earlier."

"Yeah, a little, but I don't think…uh…I mean, I still can't breath through my nose, and I could still be contagious."

"I've already had it, and why is breathing through your nose so important?"

He turned his head halfway toward her, arching an eyebrow. "Cause I can't kiss you if I can't breath."

"What if I kissed you here?" She leaned over, planting a light kiss on the same ear she had just been stroking.

"Okay, that works."

"Or here." Pulling herself even closer, she kissed his neck, just above the strap of his tank top.

"Yeah, still breathing."

"Or here…"

Ron crossed his eyes, briefly catching a glimpse of Rufus scampering out the bedroom door. "Oh man."

It turned out he didn't have to do any kissing at all, though by the time they fell asleep in each other's arms, he was indeed feeling far better than he had all day.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	53. Chapter 53

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 53**

* * *

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this, K." Bonnie's voice drifted through the closed door of the small dressing room that had been provided for them by the First United Mount Middleton Church of Christ.

Kim leaned against the door jamb, already wearing her dress. Patiently, she adjusted her earrings, thankful at least for the small favor that the emeralds actually went with the atrocity that enveloped her slender body.

"Nobody made you do this, Bonnie. Sherry asked, you said yes, end of story."

"Well…I had too many margaritas, or something like that." She opened the door, sticking her head out first to make certain that her former rival was the only one in the anteroom at the moment. Unlike Kim, she looked like she had been poured into the green and silver taffeta horror, though that was more due to her own buxom proportions than the bridesmaid dress being a poor fit. "So just what happened to that nice navy dress she showed us at the Bachelorette party?"

"I don't think she ever had any intention of having me wear that dress. You shouldn't complain, like you said, you wanted another chance to catch the bouquet."

"She should have let us wear that one. It looked nice, and I could have worn it in public. I'm just glad there aren't going to be that many people here for this wedding, and none of them know me anyway."

Kim crossed her arms, taking a sideways peek out the shaded window. She wouldn't have minded having a margarita of her own at that moment, though, just as she said to Bonnie, it was just as well there were not many people attending the nuptials.

By that, she meant that, besides Drakken's mother and her own parents, she didn't know who else would actually be there.

Well, no, she had to take that back. At least one of Sherry's brothers would be there. Despite being Bonnie's live-in boyfriend, Mego somehow managed to maintain a semi-close relationship with his sister, even when she was a criminal. It was very likely he would have come even if she hadn't somehow managed to finagle Bonnie Rockwaller into being her second bridesmaid.

"I just hope we can get this over with quickly so I can change back into normal people clothes." Bonnie griped as she attempted to adjust the bodice.

"I don't know, Bonnie. I kinda hate to admit this, but you actually make that thing look good."

"Shows you still don't know all that much about fashion, K. I'd probably get arrested within five minutes trying to wear this back in Go City."

"Ugh, oh please. It's not like you look like a hooker in it, Bonnie. It's a decent enough dress that way, it's just ugly."

"That's what I mean, Kim. I'm not worried about the Go City police force, I'm talking about the fashion police. I do have certain standards I have to maintain."

Kim started to say something, but changed her mind, turning her attention to the limo parked outside. Sure as she did open her mouth, it would turn out the fashion police actually were real, so she didn't want to be the first one to stick her foot in her mouth. They may have put their one-time rivalry behind them, but some things just simply did not change.

She caught sight of a tall, slender man wearing a nice black suit. Mego was obviously wearing some sort of holographic generator to disguise the fact his skin was normally a rather light shade of violet, and his hair the color of a dark red wine.

"How are things with you and the BF?" Kim asked, letting the shade fall back on the window.

"Oh, pretty much the same as when you and Ron stayed with us a few months ago."

Kim grinned at her, narrowing her eyes just slightly. "He still not taking a hint?"

"Oh, he will, eventually. Besides, he's going to have all kinds of chances, like with me graduating in two weeks, or maybe at your wedding. Maybe even here, since I'll be damned if anyone else is catching that bouquet."

Kim's smile widened. "Oh, and what makes you think you're going to be the one? I'm the one who knows sixteen kinds of kung fu."

Bonnie crossed her own arms. "Now how is that fair? You've already got a fiancé, and you're getting married in just a few more weeks. Give the rest of us a chance." Her eyes narrowed slightly "Though I think you've got a way big opinion of your chances. I am still on a cheerleading squad, and you've been…what have you been doing?"

"Finishing up college, Bonnie. I left cheerleading behind because I didn't have anything to prove any more."

"You weren't competing with me any more." Bonnie shot back with an evil grin.

"No."

"It's true. I know for a fact you already had a spot on their squad, but you passed it up because I wouldn't be there."

"No, that's not it, Bonnie. I'm not sure exactly why I felt the way I did, but one thing for sure, Middleton College isn't exactly known for it's sports teams, so the cheerleading squad wasn't that big a deal. If I'd have gone to GCU…"

"Hah. Those girls would have eaten you alive. You'd have to spend the first three years just being the low girl on the totem pole again, because only seniors can be captain. I'd have given you a month." She started tapping her chin, as if lost in thought. Instead, it turned out she was lost in memory. "No, make that two weeks."

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you, Bonnie? Well, I wasn't the one who bailed when I found out being captain was hard work."

"And I'm not the one who went blabbing to her boyfriend that I wouldn't last two weeks either."

"I was right, and Ron wasn't my boyfriend back then."

Bonnie shook her head. "Whatever you say, K, whatever." Bonnie took a spot at the opposite edge of the window. "Oh, speak of the devil. Wonder what Grapevine and Ronnie are talking about?

Kim looked at them herself. Ron may have been somewhat taller than he had been for most of his life, but he still looked a little small beside the lanky superhero. Not that she minded. She would have loved him just as much if he was still shorter than her.

"Probably something along the lines of how ferociously weird it is that I'm about to be the maid of honor for a woman who used to try to kill me."

"Talk about not letting something go, Kim. I thought you and…Sherry were friends now." She met Kim's eyes for a moment, having almost called her Shego again, even after being corrected about a dozen times at the so-called Bachelorette party.

"No, I'm serious. I was reading Ron's lips and that's what he was saying to Mego."

"You can read lips?"

"Doy, I can do anything, remember?"

"Ugh, so you keep reminding everyone, ad nauseum. So, what's my sweetie saying?"

"That he hopes this is over soon enough so he can have a beer." Kim curled the edge of her mouth up slightly, suppressing a snicker since it was actually the honest truth.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes, knowing herself that was probably the foremost thing on her boyfriend's mind.

"Are you two going to keep babbling, or are you going to help me get dressed in here?" Sherry's voice trailed from the dressing room.

The two younger women abandoned their spots at the window and stepped into the slightly darker room. Amethyst was standing on a wooden chair, valiantly trying to help her mother zip up the pastel green wedding dress.

"Well don't just stand there gawking, help me." She growled, her eyes sparkling green very slightly as her power tried to reassert itself.

Kim gently picked the toddler up off the chair and set her on the floor, while Bonnie took her own turn trying to work the zipper. "You sure you're gonna fit in this thing?"

"It fit when I bought it, but then I had a professional help me into it."

"Oh please. I know more about fashion than that hack ever will. Hey, maybe you and blue boy've been…"

"Hey, my daughter is right here, you know. Zip it with the 'married people hugs' talk."

"Married people hugs?" Kim asked, once again stifling a giggle.

"Mommy says that's what she does with Daddy." Ammie chimed in, looking just as uncomfortable in a dress that mirrored the bridesmaid dresses, though in a shade of purple that went quite well with her name.

"Riiiight."

"Well I don't know what the people who made this dress did differently, it's just plain stuck." Bonnie growled, squinting at the fine-toothed zipper.

"Bonnie, why don't you go check on the boys and I'll take a look." Kim offered.

The brunette grunted once and stalked out, muttering about being seen anyone in her dress.

"What'd you do that for, Princess? If I remember right, you're not exactly the domestic goddess type."

Kim leaned down, looking at the tab, then backed it up a couple inches. "I just wanted to spare Bonnie a little embarrassment. She wears glasses for reading, but doesn't want anyone to know it and she couldn't see the thread that was caught in the zipper." She tucked the loose string inside and pulled the zipper up to the middle of the older woman's back.

"Didn't know you cared."

"Just how long have you known me Sherry?"

Sherry made a slight noise in the back of her throat. "Long enough to know that you and miss bubble-chest there used to be at each other's throats. It's a different world now, isn't it, Kimmie?"

"If you say so." She stepped back, surveying her handiwork.

"Who'd a thunk? Me and Dr. D getting hitched in thirty."

"Honestly, Sherry, that kind of caught me blindside. I know he's been real good to Ammie, but the two of you? With your age difference?"

"Hey, not everyone gets to have a guy who's just a week apart. It's not like Drakken's old or anything."

"No. Guess I just wasn't looking at you two that way is all."

"You know, Princess, sometimes you really aren't all that." Sherry sat down and started fiddling with the straps of her high heals.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kim leaned against the counter, crossing her arms.

"Look at you and the sidekick."

"Ron's not a sidekick." Kim protested.

"Whatever. What I'm getting at is that everybody on the planet knew you two had something going on except for you…and maybe Drakken."

"I've heard all this before, Sherry. From you, from Mom, from Dad…it gets old. I had to do a lot of growing up before I was ready to fall in love with Ron."

"Growing up doesn't have a whole lot to do with falling in love there, Cupcake. In my case I had to let go of some of the 'growing up' I did to realize my feelings for him were deeper than 'he makes a nice daddy.'" She glanced over at Ammie, who was playing with a stuffed doll she had brought along and wasn't paying the adults the least bit of attention.

"You really love him, don't you?"

"Yeah, and it's not about the 'married people hugs' snort either. I guess I can't explain it. On the one hand, I think I've seen him as kind of a father figure in my life, which is strange since my Dad died when I was twelve and I didn't have anyone like that until I met him…and no, Herman…Hego doesn't count. Yet now, looking back, I wonder if that was just some kind of cover for what I was really feeling about him. Then I noticed something about you and Stoppable."

Kim raised her eyebrows, in a silent indication she wanted the other woman to go on.

"You two always stuck by each other, no matter what. At first I thought it might be some kind of weird pity thing. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who had many real friends, and knowing how goody-goody you were I figured you stuck by him out of some notion of obligation."

"It's not like that."

"Yeah, I know that now, but outside of our…professional activities, I really didn't know you all that well. Look at it through my eyes. Pretty cheerleader and a wimp loser."

"Sherry." Kim almost growled.

"Just hear me out, Kimmie. So he's this obviously unpopular geek, and it's pretty easy to assume he stuck by you like a little lost puppy."

Kim frowned, realizing how close to the mark that had almost become, especially when she pushed Ron aside to date Erik. Just thinking of that short, but intense period made her scrunch her eyes shut in anger and shame.

"Now it's clear to me. Long before you two fell in love, he was your best friend. It wasn't geek-obligation or anything, but honest, real friendship. The kind that meant you'd die for each other even if the romantic stuff didn't happen. That was the foundation of your relationship, and when you did start sucking face with him…"

Kim simply rolled her eyes.

"…I started thinking. You've got friends, I'm sure, but nobody quite like Ron. Part of me got really green-eyed jealous of that, because I didn't have a friend like that. Hell, I didn't really have friends. Yeah, there've been guys along the way, but that was…you know."

"Uh huh."

"Then I realized that, if nothing else, maybe Drakken really was that kind of friend. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it really was true. Then we got into the whole 'best friend with benefits' thing, and slowly I realized that maybe what you and Ron have is what we have. So see, if you two hadn't gotten together, I might still be…" She stopped, getting a slightly far away look in her eyes.

Kim looked at Ammie, then back at Sherry, realizing just who the raven-haired beauty was thinking about. The moment green eyes met green-tinged brown ones, both knew that nothing needed to be said about it. They were both there that day several years earlier.

Almost without thinking about it, Kim caught Sherry in a long, tight hug.

"I'm not going to cry." Sherry muttered as she returned the embrace. "It's my wedding day, it's supposed to be the happiest day of my life."

They both looked down as another set of arms wrapped around their legs, joining the hug. Ammie might have been too young to know what the women were actually talking about, but she wasn't going to miss out nonetheless.

"Here." Kim picked up a tissue and helped Sherry dab her eyes before her makeup could run.

Bonnie stuck her head in the door. "Everybody's in the church, unless you want to try for 'fashionably late.'"

"Ready?" Kim asked softly.

Sherry nodded. "Almost." She took a couple steps toward the door, taking her daughter's hand in hers. Looking back at Kim, she smiled.

It started with her eyes. They didn't just glitter slightly, they turned from a deep, almost black shade of brown to luminous green. The color, which was more of a deep glow than a pigment, spread from her face, down the expansive exposed part of her chest, then down her arms, disappearing into the long white gloves she was wearing, until her skin was a shade of green only slightly lighter than that of her wedding dress. For the briefest moment, her free hand was wreathed in green fire as the blue-black shine of her hair took on a distinctively green cast.

Kim stood there with her mouth open. "I…thought you were going to do this as Sherry Godfrey, not Shego."

"One of these days you'll understand, Princess. We're one in the same."

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	54. Chapter 54

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 54**

* * *

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here on this fine Saturday to bear witness…"

Ron caught himself almost stuffing his hands in his pocket for perhaps the tenth time since the ceremony began. Up until five minutes before the music started, he was pretty much assuming all he had to do was sit quietly in the nearly empty pews and dream about the two different precessions that would occur over the next few weeks. Watching Shego and Drakken getting married was just going to be a little tune-up for theirs, though it was likely there wouldn't be quite so many seats empty. No, it was more a matter of figuring out who they would _not_invite so they could actually fit their wedding into Kim's church.

That didn't turn out to be the case. He was already settled into a seat just to the side of Kim's parents, who both seemed slightly amused they had been invited to the event at the last possible moment. It wasn't clear whether they were there as a function of James being Drakken's one-time college buddy, or the fact that Anne had been the one to care for Sherry when she was pregnant and had been pretty much forced to deliver the baby in her own home. Maybe it was Drakken's usual lack of thorough planning, or perhaps he really didn't know any better, but just as the organist was sitting down to start the pre-ceremony music, the Pastor who had been enlisted to perform the marriage came up to him, begging him to stand as Best Man, primarily because his fiancé was the maid of honor. Shrugging, he quickly agreed, having pretty much familiarized himself with the position while discussing it with Felix.

He was quite a bit surprised they were having the wedding at a church instead of driving into Middleton to hold it at the county courthouse. Neither Drakken nor Shego seemed to be particularly religious, and he could have sworn he heard somewhere that Sherry was actually raised Jewish as a child. Not that it mattered all that much to him, since his wedding was going to be held in a much larger Christian sanctuary, despite his heritage and faith. For just a moment he considered what Drew Lipsky had been like as a child. He'd never actually laid eyes on the man's mother before that day, but he had heard enough from Kim and her Mom to think she had probably dragged him to services every Sunday, his thick body poured into an ill-fitting suit.

That thought made him chuckle very slightly. The suit he was wearing wasn't custom-tailored like his tux would be, but it did fit him well enough. Kim saw to that, dragging him to the mall the day before the wedding, since his own Temple clothes were…slightly short in the legs and snug across his chest.

His first duty was to squire the two bridesmaids to the alter in turn, since the pastor hadn't been able to talk anyone else into being ushers. Ron beamed at Kim, seeing her for the first time in the dress. She blushed slightly and favored him with a sheepish smile, embarrassed to actually be seen by even him in it. She might have hated the dress, but the pale green did offset her fiery red hair, and the fit was astoundingly fantastic, if you looked past the slightly silly pattern. _You look beautiful,_ he thought in her direction as hard as he could, as if he could simply re-forge the mental link they had shared during one of their adventures. Somehow it seemed to work, or she simply was just that simpatico with him to know what he was thinking, because she immediately brightened up.

Bonnie didn't seem to be happy at all, glaring at him as he reached for her arm, almost as if the old Bonnie Rockwaller was trying to reassert herself. That thought alone made him shudder for a moment, recalling all the horrible things she had said and done, each carefully crafted to goad them into doing something they were accustomed to doing to the real villains. All that passed quickly, since he knew the real truth about her and what she might one day become. None of that would help in the meantime, so he resorted to a tiny bit of Ronshine. He just mouthed the words _You look nice _at her, and that seemed to placate her for the moment.

Doctor Drakken was the next to appear, looking simultaneously nervous and happy. Somehow, even though he was wearing a rented black tux, he looked a lot more like the Drakken of old, with his hair teased up into a sort of short Mohawk and his ponytail neatly tied against his collar. Not needing or wanting to hide who he was for the occasion, he seemed to carry himself at his full six feet, looking for all the world like he was about to launch into a rant about his latest take-over-the-world scheme. His smile widened into a grin, flashing brilliantly white teeth, choppers Ron sometimes likened to piano keys. The man might have been an evil genius, but he did know how to take care of his smile.

While the groom was on his way to the alter, he had a chance to really take a look around the sanctuary. It was almost embarrassing, though he guessed it wasn't all too bad since the church was rather small. The rest of Sherry's brothers did manage to make it on time, so at least her immediate family was there. The short, rotund woman with pinkish hair he supposed was Drakken's mother, but that was it for his side of the family. That did make sense in a way, as Motor Ed was still cooling his heels after his last caper, though he didn't think Drakken would really want his mullet-headed cousin there anyway…

…seriously.

The only person he could quite figure out was the young lady sitting in the next-to-last pew. She was a slight woman, with puffy blond hair disappearing behind her back. She was sitting well behind Team Go, making him think she might be related to the Godfrey family in some way. She even bore a slight resemblance to the one-time villainess, but her only other known relative was waiting in the hallway outside the sanctuary, wearing a frilly violet dress with a basket full of flower petals.

_Was that what Sherry would look like as a blond_? He mused. Not a good look. Pale skin and light colored hair didn't go well together. After all, he should know. If it wasn't for his plethora of dark freckles, he'd look pretty much like a ghost himself.

The music changed. A lot of people thought the '_Wedding March' _was a horrible cliché, but tradition often won out over style. Kim wanted it at her ceremony, despite the objections of her pastor, who thought it a bit to secular for such a holy event. For an instant, Ron pictured himself standing where Drakken was, and the bride appearing at the door flame-haired instead of raven, wearing a brilliant white gown instead of mint.

That was yet to come. Just a few more weeks. Granted, they were shaping up to be the toughest few weeks of his life, but soon it all would be over. He would have a college diploma, a nice, new home and a woman he loved with all his heart to spend the rest of his life with.

All in all, those were very appropriate thoughts to have at a wedding, even if it was between Drakken and Shego.

Amethyst preceded her mother, idly dropping flower petals in her path, looking much more like a very small young lady than a youngster just growing out of toddlerhood. A long lock of brown hair fell across the child's nose, mirroring her mother's usual hair style almost perfectly.

He almost gasped at the first sight of Sherry in her wedding dress. Not for an instant did he think anything untoward about her wearing green instead of white. This was Shego, the queen of green getting married, and anything less would have just been sick and wrong. From the first time he had laid eyes on her in a fuzzy freeze-frame from Dr. Acari's jungle lab, he thought she was a beautiful woman. Make that an incredibly hot woman, one who hadn't seemed to age one day in the intervening six years. Her long hair was caught up in ribbons, forming a bow of white silk at the very end. Her veil was indeed white, but that couldn't hide her bright emerald eyes, or the huge smile plastered on her black lips.

Ron started just for a moment when he realized she was fully powered up. That lasted just a blink of an eye, since he knew in his heart it was exactly what everyone should have expected.

Kim leaned forward just slightly, making eye contact with Ron as Sherry stood beside Drakken and the preacher started. It was meant to bring him back to the moment, but his mind was already skipping ahead to their own wedding. Just the thought of wearing the white yarmulke made his finger involuntarily go to straighten the black one he was wearing at that instant.

"Do you, Sheryl Lynnette Godfrey take this man…"

* * *

Amethyst had a bad moment when she realized Ron was looking directly at her. If Kim had noticed her sitting in the back, it was a lot more likely she would have been recognized, but sometimes her future foster-father could see things others couldn't. Fortunately, it was only fleeting, as he turned his attention back to the ceremony at hand.

She couldn't help but cry as she watched her younger self go by, followed by her mother. That was the big drawback of being an actual participant in the proceedings. She didn't have a very good view from her place up near the alter as her mother, and the man she always considered her true father finally tied the knot. That was why she couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it from the pews, even if it meant discovery. It was all she could do to hope that, if she was recognized, that, given the nature of the day, Kim would leave well enough alone and not spoil her friend's special day. There was a little bit of guilt associated with that thought, since she'd really be the one at fault, but as she thought before, she just couldn't pass it up.

Just as the "I dos" were exchanged, she realized that her younger self was staring directly at her. She had an awful thought that the small child might have had some special insight into recognizing her older self, but that passed just as quickly since she vaguely remembered the 'strange' blond woman from the wedding too. Even at three, she was already accustomed to many odd things, so an unknown woman was nothing to be troubled over.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as "Daddy" lifted her mother's veil and kissed her for the first time as his lawfully wedded wife. Mixed in with those tears were slightly sadder ones, since she knew, as they started back down the aisle, it was time for her to make her exit. No party for Amethyst Stoppable this day.

She calmly slipped out the door while all eyes were on the newlyweds, and lensed away unseen.

There was much to do in the next few days. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and soon she would be able to return to her own husband and family.

* * *

"I know it really should be Ron to say this, Sherry, but _mozel tov!"_ Kim said after hugging the taller woman.

"What she said." Ron chimed in, still gripping Drakken's hand in a tight handshake, the older man's hand nearly disappearing in his big paw.

"So, what's the sitch with the honeymoon?" Kim pressed, still holding Sherry's hand.

"Princess, if you have to ask, I think you need to go back to Middleton High School and take a few more health classes." She grinned wickedly as Kim's cheeks almost matched her hair. "I'm kidding, Kimmie. Drakken's got a surprise for me, that's it."

"Yes…a surprise." The blue-skinned megalomaniac said softly, staring at the ceiling of the reception hall.

"I was really hoping maybe we'd go to Niagara Falls. Of all the places in the world I've been, I've never actually been there. Isn't that strange?"

"I'm just surprised he never tried to build a lair under the falls." Ron joked.

"What? What do you know, who have you been talking to?" Drakken's eyes narrowed, the black pupils locked directly on the younger man.

"Whoa, Drakken, you are _not_ going to be building a lair there, or anywhere, got it?" Sherry nearly growled, nodding toward her daughter.

"Oh, I'm just kidding." His face softened almost instantly. "If you want to go to Niagara Falls, we go to Niagara falls." He shot Ron another glance, making him wonder if the semi-reformed villain really was kidding or not.

"There's just one little detail we need to take care of first." Sherry said, looking directly at Kim.

"Cutting the cake?" Ron asked.

"No." Sherry answered. "That's taken care of, we just have to go through with it."

"First dance…dollar dance?"

Sherry shot him a confused look. "Dollar dance?"

"Never mind." Ron quickly covered.

"You'll explain that one to me…later, Ronnie." Kim switched to holding her fiancé's hand. "For a moment there, I thought she was going to ask us to take care of Ammie while they were on their honeymoon."

Sherry's skin was already fading back to 'normal' but the smile the crossed her ebon-glossed lips harkened back to her former life. "Actually, pumpkin, that's precisely the last little detail I was talking about."

Kim paused for a moment, taken aback. "Wait, I've got my own wedding coming up, finals to prepare for, a honeymoon to plan…I can't…"

"Pwease?"

Kim's eyes shot wide in open shock. She couldn't believe what she was actually seeing. Only a moment before there had been a wicked grin in the slightly older woman's face. In the twinkling of an eye, it had changed completely, her eyes getting as large as possible, her lower lip jutting out. "No, not the puppy-dog-pout!"

"That's hers!" Ron protested.

None of that helped. If anything, she just poured on the power, turning the heroine's most powerful weapon back on her.

Resistance, as the semi-robotic villains in _Space Passage_ would often say, was…not possible.

Kim could do anything, including being caught with her own ploys.

"Oh, alright. It's not like we haven't taken care of a little girl before."

"Is CJ going to be there?" The little girl asked, appearing at her mother's side.

"I'm sure she can come over to play." Kim said.

"Yay!" Amethyst skipped off, begging one of her uncles to get her some punch.

"You sure it's going to be okay?" Sherry looked after her daughter as Mego bent to give the little girl her drink.

"Yeah. I guess we can put her in CJ's room a few days. You are just going to be gone a few days, right?"

"Well duh, princess. It's not like we're going to be traipsing halfway across the universe, dumping the most important person in my life on you."

"The most…?" Drakken asked, confused.

"You're number two, Drakken." She gave him a quick, but warm kiss. "A very close number two. You know that." That seemed to placate him, as he got a wistful look in his eyes, his mind already skipping ahead to the honeymoon.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	55. Chapter 55

_**KP – The Light at the End**_**: Part 55**

* * *

Ron took a moment to run his hands over the faux wood top of the old desk. There was something comfortable about touching the slightly uneven surface of the cheap piece of furniture. It wasn't that he wanted to take it back to the apartment with him when he finally went home to Kim that evening, it was just…something like a bit of home, something he couldn't figuratively put a finger on, despite literally doing so.

"Son, you're welcome to come use my office." Gene said, standing in the doorway of his son's one-time bedroom.

"Thanks Dad, but I'm good. Just had to get away from all the women-folk for a little while, you know, get some real work done."

"Are you having trouble with your sister?" A note of concern etched itself against the elder Stoppable's face.

"No, no, nothing like that, Dad. CJ's been a jewel. It's just…"

"Hard to concentrate with two children and Kim?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. Ammie by herself is real quiet all the time, likes playing all to herself, but the moment she's with CJ…man! Talk about a ruckus…and Kim won't do anything about it, says it's perfectly normal. Perfectly loud if you ask me."

"Just look at it this way, Son. In a couple years it might not be your sister and her new best friend taking all your attention, and it won't be so easy to come home just to escape all that."

"I know, I know. Just another week, then I'll be through with finals and I won't have to worry about being distracted. Until then…" He glanced at the screen of his laptop, which remained resolutely blank, just as it had on the desk he shared with Kim at their apartment. "Aw man, I still haven't started."

Gene smiled at his son, proud of him and not-so-secretly tickled pink that he asked if he could come home for a couple days, just to finish his last bit of college work. Much as the older man had agreed it was the best course when the two of them set out to find a home together, he missed having the older half of his children there under his roof.

"You know, son, it wasn't so long ago that, given this type of situation, you would have been reacting far worse than you are now."

"Huh? I'm totally panicking, Dad. I've got to get this summary done for my project, I've got to study, I've got to…"

"You've got to relax. It's different this time, Ronald. You're not a boy who has waited until the last minute. You don't need some last-ditch effort or Kimberly enticing you on our living room couch to do better."

Ron tugged at his collar. It seemed at once so long ago, yet so close that the two of them had been downstairs, alone while his parents were away seeking help at a fertility clinic in Denver, doing things that, while paling in comparison to what the currently did as adults, were far more than he ever considered at that younger age. That, and another realization was hitting him.

"You…knew about that?"

"Son, your old man was sixteen once, though dinosaurs may have roamed the Earth then, but it doesn't take a statistical analysis to figure out there was a little hanky-panky going on…and…" He looked around, making certain the two of them were not about to be overheard by his mother, "…to be honest, I was proud of you."

"Eh, heh heh, uh, yeah…can we change the subject please, Dad?"

"Sure. What I am saying, though, is you are far more ready for this than at any time in your life before. It's really simple, if you boil it right down. You're grown up."

"Grown? Dad, I don't…"

"Hear me out, son. Sure, there are things that I think will always seem like a little boy in you. That's what makes you, you, but when it comes to something that is important, you've taken the steps necessary to succeed. I have a strong feeling that you already know everything you need to know for your final exams. All that remains is a little work, then the real work begins."

"What, that thing with Bueno Nacho? That's no big, I'm just going to be somebody they can point to for promotional thingies."

"Not that. Well, I've got a strong suspicion your job is going to be bigger than you think, but I'm talking about the rest of your life. Just like we told you when you graduated from high school, this isn't the end. There is no great light at the end of the tunnel."

"Unless that light's a train coming at you." Ron joked, though immediately he wished he hadn't as his father's expression hardened.

"Yes, Ronald, sometimes there is a train in that tunnel, and sometimes the tunnel is flat and empty…and sometimes you start up a hill you think you can never climb, but that's what life is all about. You don't finish one part of your life and live in bliss forever after. It's one struggle after another, the next one always seeming harder than the one you just passed."

Ron screwed up his face. "Then what's the point? If everything's just a struggle…"

"That's just it, son. That's the good thing. Getting past all your struggles isn't success, it's death. One thing I've come to realize being an actuary, sometimes the struggles, sometimes the risks you take in life, sometimes they're worth it. Sometimes that is what life is all about and that's what gives it meaning. Look at what has happened to me over the last year. I consider myself one of the most fortunate men on the planet."

"Because you didn't have a heart attack?"

"That's a small part of it. I'm fortunate because I finally learned that, even if it did take nearly dying to get that through my thick skull. Fortunate enough that I can tell you about it, and hopefully take that to heart, and not live like all your struggles are the end of your life, but the meaning of it."

Gene stood there for a while, watching the gears slowly turning in his son's head as he processed what he had said. With a little wry smile, he turned and started out the door.

"Right now, though, I'd suggest you actually get some work done. Jean is going to have supper on the table in about an hour, and you know what will happen if you're not there."

"Yum!" Rufus squeaked, rubbing his belly from his perch on the empty shelves where his tube-city once sat.

* * *

"Mom, tell me I'm so overreacting."

Kim leaned on the door frame of her parent's kitchen, watching as both Ron's little sister and Sherry's daughter tore into stacks of pancakes as large as their respective heads, with little regard for the sticky syrup that was coating both their faces.

"Overreacting to what, dear? You don't seem to be overreacting to anything." Anne put a plate down in Kim's usual spot in the breakfast nook, nodding toward it so her daughter would understand she was meant to be eating breakfast as well.

"Ron going over to his old house for a couple nights. I know why he's doing it, and we talked about it…but it still feels…I don't know…"

"Like he's trying to get away from you?"

"Yeah."

"To be honest, honey, I think he is."

Kim froze with a forkful of pancake poised halfway to her mouth. "Come again?"

"Kimmie, it's not as bad as it sounds. Ronald and you have lived together, what, ten months?"

"Something like that. Mom, I know, I get it up here." She tapped her forehead a couple times. "I guess I'm just being nervous."

"Transitional anxiety, dear. Perfectly normal."

Kim leaned on one palm, nibbling her food. "I don't get it. We already live together, we already…" She glanced at the two little girls, who were utterly oblivious to the older women in the room."…what's the big? Why would I be having trans-whatchahooie?"

"That's easy, Kimmie. No matter how much you try to boil it down that what's about to happen is just a couple of ceremonies, you _are_ about to graduate from college and you _are_ about to get married. Yes, both are really just formalizing something that's already a part of you, but they still mean a lot to you. They represent a large change in your life, and it's something you've looked forward to."

"You get to go on miss-uns again!" CJ chimed in before reaching for her milk.

"Don't know about that, squirt." She smiled at her soon-to-be sister-in-law. "Ron got a call from BN Headquarters the other day, and I'm pretty much going to be tied up with graduate school, pretty much from the moment we get back from our honeymoon."

"Are Mommy and Daddy going on fun rides on their unny-moon?" Ammie asked, her own milk clinging to her upper lip.

Kim's cheeks reddened ever so slightly for a moment, until she realized the little girl was accustomed to going to amusement parks and the like when her family got away. She may have acted very mature for her age at times, but she was still just three years old.

Sensing where the conversation might lead, Anne poured Kim a cup of black coffee and held it up for her at the counter. Taking her mother's lead, she got up from the table and drank deeply of the dark liquid before continuing.

"Ron going to stay with his parents for a few days is feeling like a rejection, isn't it?"

"A little, I guess. I know I'm ferociously wrong to feel that way, but I can't help it."

Anne nodded, stirring a health portion of half-n-half and sugar into her own mug. "Actually, this is the sort of thing that made me upset when your father 'insisted' it was time for the two of you to move out. Maybe too I was the one in the wrong to be such a _cheerleader _for the two of you to spend so much time together before then, but that's all water under the bridge now."

"I don't understand."

"Kim. I know Ron is a very important part of your life, and don't get me wrong, there's nothing the matter with that. It's just, no matter how close you are, no matter how much you love each other, you are still Kim and he is still Ron."

Kim raised an eyebrow for a moment, trying to digest her mother's words.

"A few months ago, when Ron went with his parents to see the rest of his family, I saw something very alien in you. The very fact that you were alone and he was away, with other people he loved made you seem completely lost."

"I can't help that, Mom. That's how important he is to me."

"I know, sweetheart, but there's something you have to remember. You're not apart. Sure, he's about a mile away right now, and very likely he's starting to realize it's not so easy to get anything done, because he's feeling the same way about you, but you don't have to be_physically_ together to be _together."_

Kim leaned on the edge of the counter, downing more than half her coffee. "I know that." Once again she tapped her forehead with her free hand. "It's just a lot harder in practice when the rubber meets the road."

"Yes, Kim, I know…from experience really."

"Then what am I supposed to do? Ignore what I'm feeling every time he's away?"

"I don't have an easy answer for you, Kim. All I can say is that you really should think of it some other way, maybe think of how nice things will be when you are reunited…or put your mind on other things. For instance, how are your classes coming?"

"So not the drama, so long as something doesn't pop up to torch my schedule."

"Not a 'skedge'?"

"Mom, I…try not to talk like that all the time now. Anyway, for me it's just a bunch of hurry up and wait. Unless one of my professors throws me a major curveball…"

Anne grinned. "Did my Kimmie just use a baseball metaphor?"

"Ugh." Kim rolled her eyes. "Trying to be serious here. My projects are all wrapped up, I'm confident of my finals, and you seem to have everything about the wedding all nailed down."

"Ah, about the wedding…"

"Not now, Mom. One thing at a time. I know Ron and I still have to sit down with Rabbi Katz one more time, and I've got the final fitting for my dress, which shouldn't be a problem. Just let me get past grad and I'll think about the wedding."

"Honey, I think a lot more than baseball talk has rubbed off on you from Ron. If the two of you decided to get married right out of high school…"

Kim made a rather rude sound. "If I remember correctly, I had to beg Daddy just so Ron and I could go on a trip together, and even that had to wait until I turned eighteen."

"That's not the point. The point is, if you had done it then, you would be on the phone right now making sure the caterers, the florists, the church and maybe even the musicians were all lined up and ready to go, while standing in your dress while Monique adjusted every little detail, all the while trying to remind Ron to get his head in the game."

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I've learned how to prioritize stuff. No big, everything is under control."

"Famous last words." Anne said, setting her mug in the sink, then heading to the table to collect the empty plates and make an attempt to wipe the syrup off the girl's faces.

"Why, what do you know?" Kim cocked her head to one side, fixing her mother with her gaze.

"Oh, that any time you said something like that before, your Kimmunicator would go off, and you'd be off on some adventure, whether it was a school night, or you had a meeting with the Rabbi or our pastor…"

"Mom, that's how I've been able to relax a little these last few months."

"Yes, but I think Catherine might have a point. Your missions were a big part of your life, and I'm afraid that, now that you've stepped aside, it's going to be a lot harder than you think to simply pick up where you left off."

Kim sat back down at the table and picked at her cooling pancakes as the two girls ran headlong into the family room to catch whatever brightly colored toddler show was available on the television. "I don't know, Mom. Maybe I'll go back to it, maybe not. After all, I'll be starting Grad school not long after we come back after the wedding, and Ron will be working. Maybe it's time I gave all of that up for good so I can move on with my life. You know, in a few years, we're probably going to start a family of our own…" She glanced after the two youngsters, "…if I'm not consigned to the status of permanent babysitter."

"If that's what you really want, Kim. That's something that you alone can decide. No, I take that back. That is something you and Ron have to decide together. He's a part of the mission life too, and you owe it to him not to let him beg off with 'whatever you want, KP.'"

She smiled slightly. "He'd say that, wouldn't he?"

"He would, and has, and he has to have his own say in the matter. It may be a moot point. After all, you're Kim Possible, and the missions themselves may come looking for you. Take for instance your meeting with Justine Flanner this afternoon."

"So not a mission, Mom. She's just wanting to show off her big project to Ron and me before the big unveiling for the press tomorrow. I pretty much suspect she's going to bombard me with a lot of terms I have to look up, then reminisce about high school or something. Not a lot of 'save the world' potential there."

"If you say so, Kimmie. If you say so."

* * *

Justine Flanner took one more look at the super-collider array as she reached for the lights. Her heart was fluttering, both because she felt that her lunch date with her boyfriend might turn into something else, and that the culmination of her life's work was about to come to fruition. It wasn't when the press arrived the next day that she would realize her dreams, but that night, in the company of her lover and her friends. There was no way she was going to open the 'lens' for the first time wearing a dress, with cameras flashing all around her. That was just for show, with all her work proven and successful.

Smiling slightly, she switched off the light, never once noticing either of the shadowy figures hidden in the machinery.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


End file.
